EFTA00985576

other night. And I turned to the person next to me and said, `You know, this 
is what America is best at — putting on a parade, crowds of people coming 
in and cheering and eating popcorn and living a wonderful life. In 
everyone's minds, this is what America is about. They live the good life." 
I say that I agree with him in the main, except that life is getting tougher 
for the middle class. He interrupts: "But it's true, most Americans have the 
good life. They have those unique qualities of inquisitiveness and 
hospitality and they think of their country as nirvana. Every once in a while 
they get woken up by someone like Mr Putin — they get a reality check." 
He laughs. I half-expect him to mimic a wolf. He puts on his hat and we 
walk together into the snow outside. 
Edward Luce is the FT's chief US commentator 
Article 7.
Asharq Al Awsat 
Obama, the Bomb and the Fatwa 
Amir Taheri 
14 Mar, 2014 -- When lobbying to prevent further sanctions against Iran 
over its nuclear program, US President Barack Obama often refers to a 
fatwa, an Islamic religious opinion. According to Obama, the fatwa 
supposedly issued by "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei, confirms Tehran's 
claims that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. Obama does not quote 
the text of the mysterious fatwa, nor does he tell us where and when he saw 
it. 
The trouble is that no one has actually seen the fatwa, although many 
people comment on it. In a bizarre twist, some mullahs even quote Obama 
as the source that confirms the existence of the fatwa. "Our Supreme Guide 
has issued a fatwa against the use of nuclear weapons, as confirmed by the 
President of the United States," Ayatollah Mahmoud Yussefwand told the 
official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) last week. 
Presented as a "Theological Expert of the Scientific Center," the ayatollah 
was one of more than 100 mullahs and government officials who attended 
a two-day conference in Tehran on "A Theological View of Nuclear 
EFTA00985596

Weapons." None of the speakers claimed that he had seen the text of the 
fatwa. Nor did anyone suggest that the fatwa—if there were such a thing—
was meant to stop the Islamic Republic from securing the means of making 
a bomb. 
A few speakers, including Yussefwand, suggested that the use, though not 
the building and/or stockpiling of such weapons, might be haram, or 
forbidden. "Islam uses the term ifsad [corruption] to ban a number of 
weapons of mass destruction," Yussefwand said. "The term specifically 
designates poisoning water resources, the cutting down of forests and the 
use of arson as a weapon of war." 
The ayatollah then wondered whether the principle could also apply to 
nuclear weapons. He did not offer a definite opinion. In other words, no 
such ban exists at the moment. 
Another theologian, Ali-Reza Qorban-Nia, explained that adopting an 
"Islamic position" on nuclear weapons would not be easy. On the one 
hand, he argued, such weapons could be banned because they "are blind in 
targeting," in the sense that they could "wipe out believers and kuffar 
[infidels] alike." On the other hand, "Shi'ite Islamic rules of war" strongly 
recommend the use of any weapon that could accelerate the destruction of 
the enemies of the Umma. According to Qorban-Nia, this is indicated in 
the principle of ma-yarji bel-fatah, or "that which creates hopes of victory." 
Thus, if a nuclear bomb could ensure ultimate victory for the believers, it 
should not be shunned. 
To confuse matters further, Ayatollah Bahman Akbari claimed that 
Khamenei's statements, though not the fatwa, which may not even exist, 
show that the Islamic Republic sees nuclear weapons as "a deterrent that 
assures the reciprocal destruction of the adversary." In other words, 
developing a nuclear arsenal for deterrent purposes could be licit. Akbari 
also suggested that the issue of a nuclear arsenal be examined "in the 
context of other weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and 
biological." This means that nuclear weapons should not be discussed as a 
special category, presumably the ultimate evil. 
During the seminar, two theologians, Mahmoud Hekmati-Nia and Hashem 
Zaafarani, criticized Akbari for not actually referring to Khamenei's fatwa. 
The reason, of course, was that neither Akbari nor anyone else had seen the 
non-existent document. 
EFTA00985597

The closest reference to Khamenei's fatwa came in a speech by the 
spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency, Behruz Kamalvand, 
when he said: "Our Supreme Leader has fixed our slogan: `Nuclear 
weapons for no nation, nuclear energy for all nations!'" In other words, the 
Islamic Republic would be prepared to abandon the military aspects of its 
nuclear program only in the context of global nuclear disarmament. And, if 
others had nuclear weapons, why should Iran deny itself such an 
instrument? 
While the conference was under way, Ayatollah Hassan Mamduhi, a 
member of the Assembly of (Clerical) Experts, offered an enigmatic 
quotation from the late Ayatollah Aziz-Allah Khoshwaqt to the effect that 
the Hidden Imam would conclude his Grand Occultation only when his 
"sword" was ready. "The Return of the Mandi is conditional on what our 
nuclear scientists are doing," Mamduhi said, without elaborating. The 
Tehran media, however, claimed that "The Sword of the Imam" in the 
modern world could only mean a nuclear arsenal. 
A week later, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the Council of the 
Guardians of the Constitution, claimed in a Friday sermon that the return of 
the Hidden Imam was " imminent" thanks to "fantastic progress" achieved 
by the Islamic Republic in Iran. Ayatollah Khoshwaqt, who died last year, 
was regarded as Khamenei's teacher and "guru" and a strong opponent of 
negotiations to limit any aspect of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. 
His views have found echoes among a number of Khomeinist clerics who 
argue that, with the US in retreat under Obama, there is no reason to make 
concessions to the P5+1 group. 
One prominent cleric, Ayatollah Mahmoud Nabawian, has published a 40-
page essay arguing that Tehran is now in a position to tell the rest of the 
world to "get lost." Another critic is Muhammad-Javad Larijani, son of an 
ayatollah and brother of Chief Justice Sadeq Larijani. He argues that 
Islamic powers should only ask non-Islamic nations to "submit" to God's 
"Final Word." In 1988, he carried a letter from Ayatollah Khomeini to 
Mikhail Gorbachev, inviting him to convert to Shi'ism. 
Obama would do well to consider three points before beating the drums for 
the mullahs. The first is that the famous fatwa either does not exist or is 
couched in the style of obfuscation that would open it to countless 
interpretations. The least that Obama should do is demand to see the fatwa 
EFTA00985598

that he is defending as a text that trumps even international law. The 
second point is that Khamenei, though a major political figure in Tehran, is 
not generally regarded as a theological heavyweight. In religious terms, 
any of the 10 or 12 grand ayatollahs and hundreds of lower-ranked clerics 
could overrule Khamenei's fatwas. 
Finally, Obama should know that the Iran nuclear project is a political issue 
and not a religious issue to be settled with a fatwa, which is, in any case, 
just an opinion and in no way legally binding on any individual, let alone 
the Islamic Republic as a nation-state. 
Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran 
from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable 
publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq 
Al-Awsat since 1987. 
EFTA00985599