World leaders react cautiously to Israeli strikes, death of Iran's Khamenei

How long will it last? Will it grow? What will the conflict and the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. mean to us - and to global security overall? Those questions echoed across the West Asia and the planet Saturday as world leaders reacted warily to US and Israeli strikes on Iran.

US President Donald Trump said on social media that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was dead, calling it "the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country." His death will not bring an end to the joint airstrikes, Trump added.

There was no immediate comment from Iran. Israeli officials previously told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that Khamenei was dead. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a televised address, said there were "growing signs" that Khamenei had been killed when Israel struck his compound early Saturday.

 

The death of the second leader of the Islamic Republic, who had no designated successor, will likely throw its future into uncertainty - and exacerbate already growing concerns of a broader conflict. The UN 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 West Asia condemned Iran's strikes on Arab neighbours while staying silent on the US military action.

Other countries were more explicit: Australia and Canada expressed open support for the US strikes, while Russia and China responded with direct criticism.

The US and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, and US President Donald 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 West Asia.

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 US and Iran to resume talks and said they favored a negotiated settlement. They said their countries didn't take part in the strikes on Iran but are in close contact with the US, Israel and partners in the region.

The three countries have led efforts to reach a negotiated 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 said. "Ultimately, the Iranian people must be allowed to determine their future," they said.

Later, at an emergency security meeting, Macron said France was "neither warned nor involved" in the strikes. He called for intensified efforts for a negotiated solution, saying "no one can think 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 says risk destabilizing the region.

Countries that maintain diplomatic ties with Israel - including Morocco, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates - denounced Iranian strikes targeting US military bases in the region including in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the Emirates.

Saudi Arabia said 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 US, said 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 West Asia used 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 Ministry called the strikes "a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent U.N. member state." The ministry accused Washington and Tel Aviv of "hiding behind" concerns about Iran's nuclear program while actually pursuing regime change.

Similarly, China's government said it was "highly concerned" about the US and Israeli strikes on Iran and called for an immediate halt to the military action and a return to negotiations. "Iran's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected," a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his country supports the United States in its effort to stop Iran from obtaining an atomic bomb. He described Iran's current leadership as a destabilizing force and noted two attacks on Australian soil that were blamed on Tehran. Last August, Australia cut off diplomatic relations with Iran and expelled its ambassador after accusing it of orchestrating two antisemitic attacks in the country.

Despite recent tensions with the US, Canada too expressed its support for the military action. "The Islamic Republic of Iran is the principal source of instability and terror throughout the West Asia," Prime Minister Mark Carney said.

And the UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, at the request of Bahrain and France.

Concerns expressed of new, extensive' war  Palestinians in the occupied West Bank said they were largely unfazed as war erupted Saturday, barely pausing 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 away in Jerusalem, streets in Ramallah swarmed with shoppers browsing meat counters, vegetable stalls and Ramadan sweets, some stopping to record the sounds of distant sirens and missile interceptions.

But as Israel closed checkpoints to the movement of people and goods on Saturday, gas stations saw longer-than-usual lines as residents filled spare canisters in case of supply disruptions.

Nervousness is perceptible across multiple countries. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he was concerned the failure of negotiations between the US and Iran meant a "new, extensive war in the West Asia."  The Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons condemned the US 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 use of nuclear weapons," said 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.