Obama Lied: The Iranians Have NEVER Issued Any Fatwa Against Nuclear Weapons

by Warner Todd Huston | March 20, 2015 2:16 pm

While refusing to support our allies in Israel, today Obama issued a happy-talk message to his allies in Iran (not our allies). During his cloying message to the nice Iranian Islamist Mullahs, Obama was thankful for their “fatwa against nuclear arms.” But the truth is that Obama lied. There never was any such fatwa against nuclear arms issued by Iran or its leaders.

Our Islam-loving President recorded a video statement[1] to let Iranians know that he is celebrating the Islamist holiday of Nowruz. But during this sycophantic message, Obama disgorged a major lie.

Nearly every word of this paragraph is a lie…

As I have said many times before, I believe that our countries should be able to resolve this issue peacefully, with diplomacy. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons, and President Rouhani has said that Iran would never develop a nuclear weapon. Together with the international community, the United States has said that Iran should have access to peaceful nuclear energy, consistent with Iran’s international obligations. So there is a way for Iran–if it is willing to take meaningful, verifiable steps–to assure the world that its nuclear program is, in fact, for peaceful purposes only.

But the biggest lie is the nonsense that Ayatollah Khamenei has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons.

Khamenei never did any such thing.

As Andrew McCarthy notes[2] today:

The invaluable Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has done extensive research into compilations of Khamenei’s published fatwas. No such fatwa has ever been published.

In a sharia state, particularly the one in Iran that is actually run by the country’s top sharia jurists, fatwas are important statements of governing law, like statutes are in the U.S. Yet despite repeated requests, Iran has never produced the purported anti-nuclear weapons fatwa from Khamenei.

Indeed, as MEMRI elaborates, Khamenei was directly asked about the purported fatwa in a 2012 Facebook exchange:

[I]s it also forbidden to obtain nuclear weapons, as per your ruling that their use is prohibited?

He refused to answer the question:

Your question has no jurisprudential aspect. When it has a jurisprudent [sic] position, then it will be possible to answer it.

The notion that Khamenei actually believes nuclear weapons violate Islamic law and would issue a credible fatwa to that effect should be seen as absurd on its face. Put aside that Pakistan, which incorporates sharia in its law, has long had nuclear weapons. For over two decades, al-Qaeda has been trying to acquire nuclear weapons and has enjoyed essential support from the regime in Tehran.

So, here is Obama excusing the actions of Iran, the single biggest exporter of terrorism in the world, while at the same time turning his back on Israel, our only ally in that same region and the only democratic nation in the area!

Barack Obama is a liar. Plain and simple. But he is also an enemy to freedom, an Islamist apologist, and the most dangerous man ever to sit in the White House.