Senior cleric: Threats against Supreme Leader amount to declaration of war on Islam

AhlulBayt News Agency: A senior Iranian religious official has condemned recent threats against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, describing them as tantamount to a declaration of war against the Islamic world. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts and the Supreme Council of Seminaries, urged Muslims around the world to defend what he called the “principle of Islam” in response to actions by the United States and Israel.

Ayatollah Araki's comments come amid rising tensions in the region following hostile rhetoric and military escalations between Iran and its adversaries, particularly Israel and the United States. His remarks appeared to respond to earlier U.S. policy statements perceived in Iran as threats to the country's leadership.

“Threatening the Supreme Leader is not just threatening an individual,” Araki said. “It is threatening the very tent pole of the Islamic Ummah.”

Citing recent religious rulings (fatwas) issued in reaction to threats made against Iran’s leadership, Ayatollah Araki stated that both the United States and Israel now fall under the Islamic jurisprudential category of “warlike infidels” — a designation used in historical Islamic legal contexts for those deemed openly hostile to Islam and its followers.

“The Zionist regime is, by its very nature, a belligerent entity,” Araki said, “even without its crimes in Gaza.” He added that the U.S. government’s support for Israel made it equally culpable. “Their property, their lives, and those supporting them are not protected [under Islamic law].”

He extended this classification to governments in Europe, including Britain, France, and Germany, which he accused of supporting U.S. and Israeli policies. “If they continue to support the criminal actions of Trump and Netanyahu, they will be treated the same,” he said.

“Any Muslim anywhere in the world who can harm Americans or Zionists has defended Islam,” Ayatollah Araki said. “According to the Quran, Paradise will be obligatory for them.”

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