World leaders issued cautious and divided responses after the United States and Israeli strikes in Iran that reportedly killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other regime leaders on Saturday, raising fears of broader regional conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that Khamenei was dead and described the moment as “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.” Iranian state media also reported early Sunday that the 86-year-old leader had died without providing a cause.
After the U.S. and Israel launched the attack on Saturday, Trump urged Iranians to “seize control of your destiny” and rise against the Islamic theocracy that has ruled since 1979.
Iran responded by firing missiles and drones toward Israel and U.S. military bases across the Middle East, sharply escalating tensions.
The death of Khamenei, who had no designated successor, threatened to inject fresh uncertainty into Iran’s political future as the United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on the strikes and the retaliation.
Many governments reacted cautiously, avoiding direct comment on the joint U.S. and Israeli operation while condemning Iran’s response.
Governments across the Middle East followed a similar pattern, criticizing Iranian strikes on Arab neighbors while remaining largely silent about the initial military action.
Some countries took clearer positions. Australia and Canada expressed support for the U.S. strikes, while Russia and China issued direct criticism of the attacks.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement that Iran is “the principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East,” reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself and said Ottawa supports Washington’s efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“Despite diplomatic efforts, Iran has neither fully dismantled its nuclear program, halted all enrichment activities, nor ended its support for regional terrorist proxy groups,” Carney said. “Canada stands with the Iranian people in their long and courageous struggle against Iran’s oppressive regime. Canada has listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity, and has sanctioned 256 Iranian entities and 222 individuals in response to the regime’s repression and its violence both against its own people, and persistently, beyond its borders. Canada reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself and to ensure the security of its people.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz issued a joint statement, calling for Washington and Tehran to resume negotiations, saying their countries did not participate in the strikes but remain in close contact with the U.S., Israel and regional partners.
“We condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms. Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military strikes,” the three leaders said.
Separately, Starmer said the United Kingdom “played no role” in the strikes and warned that Iran “must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” citing more than 20 potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots on U.K. soil over the past year. He also condemned Iran’s attacks on regional partners.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a joint statement that “the legitimacy of a government rests on the support of its people” and added that Iran’s leadership had long since lost that backing.
Across the Arab world, the 22-nation Arab League called the Iranian attacks a violation of the sovereignty of countries seeking stability, while Morocco, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates denounced Iranian strikes targeting U.S. military facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the Emirates.
Saudi Arabia also condemned Iranian aggression, calling it a violation of sovereignty.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide warned that the collapse of negotiations between Washington and Tehran could lead to a “new, extensive war in the Middle East.”
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a global civil society coalition that advocates for the elimination of nuclear weapons and promotes international treaties banning them, said the strikes risked further escalation and increased nuclear danger.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed discussed the crisis in a phone call and called for intensified diplomatic efforts to calm the situation, according to a statement.
Oman, which has mediated talks between Washington and Tehran, said the U.S. action violated international law and the principle of settling disputes peacefully.
Oman Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said the U.S.-Israeli attacks have undermined “serious negotiations.”
“Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this,” he wrote on X. “And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry described the strikes as “a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent U.N. member state,” accusing Washington and Tel Aviv of pursuing regime change under the cover of nuclear concerns.
China’s government said it was “highly concerned” about the strikes and called for an immediate halt to military action and a return to negotiations, stressing that Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected.
The Palestinian Authority also condemned Iranian attacks on Arab nations without referring to the U.S. or Israeli strikes.
Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV addressed the escalating tensions. In his weekly address to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, the pope said, “I address a heartfelt appeal to the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility to stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”
“Stability and peace are not built through mutual threats or through weapons … but only through reasonable, genuine, and responsible dialogue,” Leo added.
