Congress condemns Khamenei’s killing, urges peace and respect for sovereignty

The Indian National Congress (INC) on Sunday issued a powerful and evocative statement condemning the targeted assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, calling the military strike “unequivocally reprehensible” and a violation of foundational international norms.

In a message resonating with historical and philosophical weight, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed the party’s deepest condolences to the bereaved family, the people of Iran, and Shia communities worldwide. “In this moment of profound grief, we extend our solidarity to all those navigating this grave crisis,” Kharge said, framing the tragedy as a loss felt far beyond Iran’s borders.

The INC’s statement underscored India’s enduring commitment to peaceful dispute resolution, grounded in dialogue, respect for international law and the core tenets of the Indian Constitution — including Article 51, which directs the state to promote international peace. Kharge invoked India’s civilisational ethos of sovereign equality, non-intervention and the ideal of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — “the world is one family” — alongside principles of non-violence championed by Mahatma Gandhi and non-alignment championed by Jawaharlal Nehru.

The party emphasised that the targeted use of force to destabilise another country’s leadership — whether in Tehran or in other capitals such as Caracas — betrays a troubling resurgence of regime-change doctrines and ‘coercive unilateralism’. Such actions, the statement argued, contravene the United Nations Charter, especially Article 2(4) on the prohibition of force against sovereign states and Article 2(7) on non-interference in domestic matters.

“A targeted killing of a sitting head of state strikes at the heart of these rules. Sovereignty is not conditional, and political legitimacy cannot be manufactured through force,” Kharge added.

Reaffirming its belief in self-determination, the Congress held that every nation’s people have an inalienable right to chart their own political future, free from external imposition.

“No external power has the authority to engineer regime change or dictate leadership,” the statement said, describing such interference as incompatible with a genuinely rules-based international order.

The statement comes amid a flurry of responses across India to the US-Israel military strikes on Iran, which have prompted both political criticism at home and broader global reactions.