The assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 28 February didn't just plunge the Islamic Republic of Iran into a succession crisis; it effectively dismantled the theological cornerstone of Iran’s nuclear diplomacy.

For over two decades, Tehran’s primary defence against allegations of a clandestine weapons programme was not just technical but spiritual — centered on Khamenei’s famous fatwa (religious edict) prohibiting the production and use of nuclear weapons.

With the seat of the supreme leader now occupied by his son Mojtaba Khamenei, the world is forced to confront a stark jurisprudential reality: in Shia Islam, the authority of a religious ruling is tied to the life of the scholar who issued it.

In Washington, US vice-president J.D. Vance has gone so far as to claim that Iran was preparing to deploy “nuclear suicide vests” capable of killing tens of thousands — an assertion used to justify pre-emptive military action. Such claims, whether grounded in intelligence or political expediency, underscore the extent to which fear narratives are now shaping policy in the........

© National Herald