Khamenei’s Rulings on Trade with Non-Muslims
[Question 1347]: Is it permitted to import Israeli goods or to distribute them? Were this to be done even in the case of emergency, is it permitted to sell them?
Answer: One must refrain from trade which benefits the usurper state of Israel, which is the enemy of Islam and the Muslims. Importing and distributing their goods in which their sales bring profit [to the State of Israel] is not permitted for anyone, and so it is not permitted for Muslims, to buy those goods either because of the corruption and harm which they have for Islam and the Muslims.
[Question 1348]: Is it permitted to import Israeli goods by trade and distribute them in countries which have lifted the economic boycott of Israel?
Answer: It is obligatory for people to refrain from importing or distributing goods the building or selling of which the wretched state of Israel benefits from.
[Question 1349]: Is it permitted for Muslims to buy Israeli goods which are being sold in the lands of Islam?
Answer: It is obligatory upon each Muslim to refrain from buying or using goods whose production and sales benefit the Zionists who are in a state of war with Islam and the Muslims.
[Question 1350]: Is it permissible to open travel agencies for trips to Israel in Muslim countries? Is it permissible for Muslims to obtain tickets from such agencies?
Answer: This activity is not permitted because of the harm it does to Islam and the Muslims. Similarly, attempting to do deeds which are considered a violation of the Muslims’ boycott against the enemy state of Israel, which is at war [with Islam and the Muslims], is not permitted to anyone.
[Question 1351]: Is it permitted to buy products from Jewish or American or Canadian companies, considering the likelihood that they strengthen the state of Israel?
Answer: If the buying and selling of these products lead to the strengthening of the wretched usurper state of Israel or is used against Islam and the Muslims, buying and selling them is not permitted to anyone. Otherwise, there is no problem.
[Question 1352]: If Israeli products enter Islamic countries, are merchants permitted to buy some of them and sell them to the people and distribute them?
Answer: This is not permitted due to the corruption which they entail.
[Question 1353]: If Israeli products are presented in an Islamic country’s public markets, is buying them by Muslims if it is possible to provide the needed non-Israeli goods which are imported from other countries?
Answer: It is obligatory upon each Muslim to refrain from buying or using goods the profits for producing and purchasing of which go to the Zionists, who are at war with Islam and the Muslims.
[Question 1354]: If we know that Israeli products are re-exported via other countries, such as Turkey, Cyprus, etc. after a change of their original labels so that Muslim customers would believe that they are non-Israeli, since they know that if Muslims were to know that they are made in Israel, they would refrain from purchasing them, then what are the Muslims’ obligations?
Answer: Muslims must refrain from purchasing, spreading, and using those products.
[Question 1355]: What is the decision on selling American goods? Does this decision cover all Western countries, such as France and Britain? Does this decision apply to Iran alone or to all countries?
Answer: If purchasing goods imported from non-Islamic countries and using them strengthens infidel and imperialist countries which are enemies of Islam and the Muslims, or strengthens their financial powers to attack the Islamic lands or the Muslims around the world, it is obligatory that the Muslims refrain from purchasing or utilizing them, making no distinction between one commodity and another or one government and another among the infidel governments which are enemies of Islam and the Muslims. This decision does not only apply to the Muslims of Iran.
[Question 1356]: What are the obligations of those who work in factories or institutions whose profits go to the infidel governments and lead to their strengthening?
Answer: There is no problem per se in obtaining income from legitimate work, even if it so happens that its income is obtained by a non-Islamic government, unless that government is in a state of war with Islam and the Muslims and utilizes the products of Muslim labor in this war.