Has Iran`s supreme leader issued fatwa against nuke weapons?

Washington: Following a few media reports and the Iranian government`s website claims, speculations have arrived on whether the country`s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons. The Iranian government`s new website on its nuclear programme, www.nuclearenergy.ir, has recently included an entire section on the nuclear fatwa and it appears to trace the roots of Khamenei`s fatwa, which it claims was first issued in 2003.

However, it doesn`t seem that Khamenei`s fatwa has reassured President Barack Obama that Iran doesn`t seek a nuclear weapons capability, the Washington Post reports. The site does not provide the text of the original fatwa issued by Khamenei, the report added. Iran admitted to chemical weapons production after it ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1997, but the US intelligence agencies have suspected Iran of maintaining a chemical weapons stockpile at least until 2003.