Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei says nuclear weapons 'haram' in Islam

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on October 9 said that despite having the ability to develop nuclear weapons, they have avoided it since it is ‘haram’, or forbidden in Islam. During a meeting with a group of academic elites and scientific talents at the Hussayniyeh of Imam Khomeini, Khamenei said that both the making and stockpiling of nuclear weapons is wrongful because the use of such weapons is forbidden in Islam.

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Science with ethics

Khamenei stressed that the culture of humanity is important when it comes to nuclear science. “Science will deviate if it departs from an upright culture. Nuclear science, as it was not coupled with a culture of humanity, led to the development of nuclear bombs and to this day it poses a threat to the world,” he said.

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Towards ‘religion’ and ‘national values’

Khamenei asked the academic elites to pursue “religion” and “national values” to avoid any dangerous by-product of science. “The scientific movement in the world is fast-paced, and we have important backwardness since the past. Now, of course, (in Iran) both science and the commercialization and industrialization cycle of science have advanced.” Khamenei urged the group to accelerate the pace of scientific growth in the country. He said that though they are among the top countries in some ‘nascent disciplines’, it is not enough.

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Iran’s flailing economy 

Iran has been facing severe sanctions on the economic front after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran nuclear deal. Trump had also called on countries around the world to bring more sanctions on Iran in order to tighten the noose around Iran’s already flailing economy. At the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Trump had said that no responsible country should subsidize Iran’s “blood lust”.

'We must stop Iran's path to nuclear weapons, hence I dropped out of the nuclear deal,” he had said. “The regime's record of death and destruction is well known to us all. Not only is Iran the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism, but Iran's leaders are fuelling the tragic wars in both Syria and Yemen. And at the same time, the regime is squandering the nation's wealth and future in a fanatical quest for nuclear weapons,” said Trump.

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(With inputs from agencies)