Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge strongly denounced the targeted assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by US and Israeli military forces without a formal war declaration. The Congress expressed heartfelt condolences to the Supreme Leader’s family, the people of Iran, and the global Shia community during this tragic time and pledged solidarity with them amidst the crisis.
Kharge emphasized that India’s foreign policy is rooted in resolving conflicts through dialogue and upholding international law, as outlined in the Indian Constitution’s Article 51. He highlighted that India’s core values of sovereign equality, non-intervention, and peace are contradicted by the ongoing conflict in West Asia, going against the country’s principles of unity and non-violence advocated by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru’s non-alignment policy.
The Congress President criticized the use of targeted force to undermine the leadership of sovereign states like Iran and Venezuela, labeling it as a resurgence of regime-change tactics and unilateral coercion. He pointed out that such actions violate the United Nations Charter, specifically Articles 2(4) and 2(7), which prohibit the use of force against a state’s independence and interference in domestic affairs. Kharge stressed that every nation has the right to self-determination without external interference, denouncing any attempts at regime change as imperialistic and incompatible with an orderly international system.
