Iranian clerics who put multi-million-dollar bounties on the heads of President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other political leaders would be officially designated as terrorists, according to newly introduced legislation.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) on Thursday, would sanction 10 Iranian clerics as Special Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). The Islamist leaders issued moharebeh fatwas — religious decrees under the Islamic Penal Code of Iran — that call for the brutal torture and execution of Trump, Netanyahu, and other leaders. The basis for the law is found in Quran 5:33, transliterated as: “Those who wage war against God and His Messenger and strive to spread corruption in the land should be punished by death, crucifixion, the amputation of an alternate hand and foot, or banishment from the land: a disgrace for them in this world, and then a terrible punishment in the Hereafter.”

According to the bill’s text, an Iranian hardline cleric named Abdolmajid Kharghani initiated a fundraising campaign “to facilitate the ‘killing of Trump and Netanyahu’, claiming that ‘in European countries’ this could be ‘achieved with $10-20 million.’” After Kharghani made the pronouncement, a crowdsourcing campaign reportedly raised over $20 million.

In the past, moharebeh fatwas issued by Iranian clerics have led to violence against the targeted individuals. In August 2022, author Salman Rushdie was stabbed numerous times while on stage at a speaking engagement by a Muslim man after a fatwa was issued by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. The attack left Rushdie “blind in one eye, with damage to his liver and a paralysed hand caused by nerve damage to his arm.”

Self, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, warned that the Sharia law-based fatwas must be confronted swiftly. “The American way of life is under siege by radicals from a culture waging war against our Constitution and Western values. Now, these same radicals are waging war against President Trump,” he remarked in a statement. “When radical Islamists issue Sharia-based fatwas against our President, which include crucifixion and cross-amputation, we should take them seriously. Sharia has no place in America, and these insidious fatwas prove just that.”

Following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the country has been ruled with an iron grip by Islamist ayatollahs, first by Ruhollah Khomeini until 1989 and currently by Ali Khamenei. The ayatollah regime has violently suppressed multiple uprisings of its own people, executed as many as 120,000 of its own citizens under Sharia law, and has sponsored radical jihadist terror groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis, among others. Ayatollah Khamenei has called Israel a “cancerous tumor” that “must be removed and eradicated,” and Iranian officials have repeatedly used the slogan “Death to America” and referred to the U.S. as the “Great Satan.” Terrorist proxies and militias supported by the regime have killed almost 900 U.S. servicemembers since 1983.

In comments to The Washington Stand, Self emphasized that the significant amount of money that has backed the fatwas against the president cannot be ignored. “We want to let people know that it is not acceptable to put out assassination contracts on our national leaders,” the congressman underscored. “Twenty million dollars can go a long way to hiring somebody to make an assassination attempt against President Trump.”

Self went on to note that the individual SDGT sanctions will likely be effective based on the U.S.’s past experience. “Over the last 20-plus years in the Middle East, we have discovered how to find money and make sure it doesn’t get transferred,” he noted. “Terrorist money is something that we now have a lot of experience with.”

The Texas congressman further argued that the Iranian regime’s recent aggression, as seen against Israel and in the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, must be staunchly countered.

“I have no idea why they have gone on the offense like they have, frankly, around the world. But they have, so they either believe that they have reached the tipping point to control Western civilization, or they see the West waking up, and they realize they need to complete the deal,” he observed. “I don’t know which it is, because it’s surprising to me that they’ve chosen right now to go on the offense. We all need to get serious about this. I’m interested in pushing back against the Sharia offense that is happening throughout the West.”

Self concluded by contending that the torture called for under the fatwas must not be tolerated. “When you think about this, you are supposed to torture before you kill under this fatwa, under this penal code. It should be anathema to every Western civilization that you don’t torture. We saw it on October 7th, the horrific torturing that happened to the Israeli citizens. We should never accept that.”