BRUSSELS (AP) — How long will it last? Will it grow? What will the conflict and the reported death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. mean to us — and to global security overall? Those questions echoed across the Middle East and the planet Saturday as world leaders reacted warily to U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared on social media that Khamenei was dead, calling it “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Countest.” His death will not bring an conclude to the joint airstrikes, Trump added.
There was no immediate comment from Iran. Israeli officials previously informed The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that Khamenei was dead. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a televised address, declared there were “growing signs” that Khamenei had been killed when Israel struck his compound early Saturday.
The apparent demise of the second leader of the Islamic Republic, who had no designated successor, would likely throw its future into uncertainty — and exacerbate already growing concerns of a broader conflict. The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting.
Perhaps cautious about upsetting already strained relations with Trump, many nations abstained from commenting directly or pointedly on the joint strikes but condemned Tehran’s retaliation. Similarly to Europeans, governments across the Middle East condemned Iran’s strikes on Arab neighbors while staying silent on the U.S. and Israeli military action.
Other countries were more explicit: Australia and Canada expressed open support for the U.S. strikes, while Russia and China responded with direct criticism.
The U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, and Trump called on the Iranian public to “seize control of your destiny” by rising up against the Islamic theocracy that has ruled the nation since 1979. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones toward Israel and U.S. military bases in the Middle East.
Some leaders urge resumption of talks
In a statement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on the U.S. and Iran to resume talks and declared they favored a neobtainediated settlement. They declared their countries didn’t take part in the strikes on Iran but are in close contact with the U.S., Israel and partners in the region.
The three countries have led efforts to reach a neobtainediated solution over Iran’s nuclear program.
“We condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms. Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military strikes,” they declared. “Ultimately, the Iranian people must be allowed to determine their future,” they declared.
Later, at an emergency security meeting, Macron declared France was “neither warned nor involved” in the strikes. He called for intensified efforts for a neobtainediated solution, declareing “no one can consider that the questions of Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic activity, regional destabilization will be settled by strikes alone.”
The 22-nation Arab League called the Iranian attacks “a blatant violation of the sovereignty of countries that advocate for peace and strive for stability.” That coalition of nations has historically condemned both Israel and Iran for actions it declares risk destabilizing the region.
Morocco, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates denounced Iranian strikes tarreceiveing U.S. military bases in the region including in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the Emirates.
Under former President Bashar Assad, Syria was among Iran’s closest regional allies and a staunch critic of Israel, yet a statement from its foreign ministest singularly condemned Iran, reflecting the new government’s efforts to rebuild ties with regional economic heavyweights and the United States.
Saudi Arabia declared it “condemns and denounces in the strongest terms the treacherous Iranian aggression and the blatant violation of sovereignty.” Oman, which has been mediating the talks between Iran and the U.S., declared in a statement that the U.S. action “constitutes a violation of the rules of international law and the principle of settling disputes through peaceful means, rather than through hostility and the shedding of blood.”
Careful wording is (mostly) the order of the day
Countries in Europe and the Middle East utilized careful wording, avoiding perceptions that they either support unilateral American action or are directly condemning the United States.
Others were more blunt. Russia’s Foreign Ministest called the strikes “a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and indepconcludeent U.N. member state.” The ministest accutilized Washington and Tel Aviv of “hiding behind” concerns about Iran’s nuclear program while actually pursuing regime alter.
Similarly, China’s government declared it was “highly concerned” about the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and called for an immediate halt to the military action and a return to neobtainediations. “Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected,” a Chinese Foreign Ministest statement declared.
Despite recent tensions with the U.S., Canada too expressed its support for the military action. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is the principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East,” Prime Minister Mark Carney declared.
And the U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, at the request of Bahrain and France.
Concerns expressed of ‘new, extensive’ war
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank declared they were largely unfazed as war erupted Saturday, barely paapplying as booms echoed across the sky from Israel’s Iron Dome intercepting missiles overhead.
Unlike Israel, Palestinian cities have no warning sirens or bomb shelters, despite the risk of falling debris or errant missiles. As people sheltered less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away in Jerusalem, streets in Ramallah swarmed with shoppers browsing meat counters, vereceiveable stalls and Ramadan sweets, some stopping to record the sounds of distant sirens and missile interceptions.
But as Israel closed checkpoints to the relocatement of people and goods on Saturday, gas stations saw longer-than-usual lines as residents filled spare canisters in case of supply disruptions.
The Palestinian Authority, in a statement, condemned the Iranian attacks on Arab nations, many which have historically supported underwrite its finances. It built no mention of the Israeli or U.S. strikes.
Nervousness is perceptible across multiple countries. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide informed Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he was concerned the failure of neobtainediations between the U.S. and Iran meant a “new, extensive war in the Middle East.”
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons condemned the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in harsher words. “These attacks are totally irresponsible and risk provoking further escalation as well as increasing the danger of nuclear proliferation and the utilize of nuclear weapons,” declared its executive director, Melissa Parke.
EU leaders issued a joint statement Saturday calling for restraint and engaging in regional diplomacy in hopes of “ensuring nuclear safety.” The Arab League, too, appealed to all international parties “to work towards de-escalation as soon as possible, to spare the region the scourge of instability and violence, and to return to dialogue.”
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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw and Metz from Ramallah. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Angela Charlton in Paris, Paolo Santalucia in Rome, Suman Naishadham in Madrid, Elise Morton and Krutika Pathi in London, Jamey Keaton in Geneva, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Fatma Khaled and Sam Magdy in Cairo, Ken Moritsugu in Beijing and Adam Schreck in Bangkok contributed to this report.
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