Dearborn Heights ― Some Islamic leaders in Metro Detroit issued a strong condemnation of the U.S. government’s involvement with Israel in attacks on Iran last weekend, calling Tuesday on President Donald Trump to make good on a campaign promise to “end wars.”
Airstrikes on Iran by Israel and the U.S. on Saturday killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Senior U.S. officials said Iran would not agree through diplomatic negotiations to give up the country’s ability to enrich uranium, which the Iranians said they wanted for nuclear energy. U.S. officials said that would enable the country to build a nuclear bomb.
But leaders from the Imams Council of Michigan contended during a Tuesday news conference that Iran didn’t pose a threat to the U.S., and said the Trump administration should have continued to pursue diplomacy, not military force. Speaking at the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, Mohammad Ali Elahi, a co-chair of the council, said he believed Khamenei’s statements that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons because of the late supreme leader’s role as Iran’s spiritual leader. He noted Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statements a few days ago that he’d be open to meeting with Khamenei.
“How embarrassing, how unfair and heartbreaking to kill a religious leader,” said Elahi, who was born in Iran and emigrated to the United States and Michigan in 1991. “If it was not for his fatwa and his religious rule, Iran could have an atomic bomb now, but this man (Khamenei) said, ‘No.’ Instead of rewarding him, they kill him.”
A fatwa is a ruling issued on a point of Islamic law. Khamenei issued a fatwa in the 1990s prohibiting the production and use of nuclear weapons, according to Reuters.
But Zahra Assar-Nossoni, an Iranian social media content creator and biotech director who lives in Metro Detroit disagreed, saying U.S. officials and those from other countries made earnest efforts to negotiate with Iran through diplomacy without success.
Assar-Nossoni said she’s been “living in a paradox the last few days.” She said Khamenei’s death provides a measure of justice for Iranians killed by his regime, especially during the violent suppression of the protests during the winter, but is concerned about the danger the eruption of war and Iran’s fierce retaliation create for civilians in the country.
“Iranians on Saturday could finally feel some justice. But at the same time, no one’s happy about the war, because it’s scary. It’s uncertain how long this is going to last,” Assar-Nossoni said.
Sayyid Ali Jafri, a lawyer who said he was representing the House of Remembrance, said at Tuesday’s news conference he condemned attempts to assassinate political leaders the U.S. disagrees with and the resulting killings of civilians. He said Americans should set a better example for their children than resolving problems with violence.
“This is a country that was founded on the idea that we were a nation of laws, not men,” Ali Jafri said. “It’s time for us to take back our government by speaking out, by standing up and saying, ‘Not one more dime for illegal wars.'”
Elahi said it was ironic that the deaths of civilians, including journalists, schoolchildren in schools and hospital patients, resulted from the attacks when Trump implied in January the U.S. may use military force to protect Iran’s citizens against the regime’s violent crackdown against weeks of protests that began over the collapse of Iran’s currency.
He added that the Trump administration’s aggression against Iran goes against what the majority of Americans want.
“Does this make America great again? No. Does this mean America first? No,” Elahi said. “This is a disastrous decision and a matter of accountability and responsibility.”
jcardi@detroitnews.com
Reuters contributed.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Metro Detroit Islamic leaders condemn U.S. strikes in Iran, leader’s killing
Reporting by Julia Cardi, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
