Left leaders condemn killing of Iran's Khamenei

New Delhi, Mar 1 (PTI) Left parties on Sunday deplored the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby saying that India should take the lead in rallying the Global South to condemn the "excesses being committed by the US-Israel axis" in Iran.

CPI general secretary D Raja also condemned the attack on Iran and said "the US-“Israel nexus represents evil in its most naked form". He also questioned the Centre's alleged silence over the developments in West Asia.

In a post on X, CPI(M) general secretary Baby said, "While we have differences with certain non-democratic measures adopted by the Iranian government, the murder of their Supreme Leader and other top officials by the Imperialist United States and Zionist Israel in violation of Iran's national sovereignty and international law is utterly reprehensible and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms." He said this is the same kind of tactic that the US has time and again used in Latin America and elsewhere.

"We have seen their lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq being exposed. The experience of Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria is before our eyes. Once again, the American military-industrial complex is proving to be the biggest threat to world peace," he said.

Baby said the "Government of India should take the lead in rallying the Global South to voice their highest condemnation of the excesses being committed by the US-Israel axis in Iran, which has pushed them to take countermeasures".

When world peace is under threat, India should play a lead role in rallying all democratic voices together so that there is a cessation of violent attacks and countermeasures, he said.

CPI general secretary Raja said, "The assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei by direct military force is a grave and dangerous escalation." "We on the Left have consistently criticised the Khamenei regime on women's rights, democratic freedoms and civil liberties. But political disagreements can never justify or normalise the targeted killing of the sovereign head of a state at the hands of imperialist butchers," he said.

Raja said if such acts are accepted, international law becomes meaningless and sovereignty conditional.

"For seven decades, the United States has been the principal source of conflict in the world. From the devastation of Vietnam, coups in Guatemala and Chile, the Contra war in Nicaragua, and the invasion of Panama, to the destruction of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and prolonged intervention in Syria. The pattern is constant: intervention, regime change, chaos," he said.

In a post on X, he said assassinating a sitting head of state is to strip the so-called rules based order of its "last pretence".

He also slammed the Union government, accusing it of being silent over the issue.

"The silence of the Government of India and Prime Minister Modi is disturbing. Iran has been a friendly, time tested partner, supportive on Kashmir and balanced within the OIC," he said.

Raja called it a "surrender" to the US-“Israel nexus, and said India risks losing hard earned goodwill across the Global South.

"A nation that once championed non-alignment cannot remain silent when sovereignty itself is obliterated by force," he said.

CPI(ML) Liberation, in a statement, said the assassination of Khamenei must be condemned unequivocally, even by the critics of the Iranian government.

"The US has no business to inflict a regime change on Iran. The experience of countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan that have been targeted earlier by the US for regime change operations clearly shows that the US is only interested in destabilising sovereign countries to establish its own exclusive geo-political domination in West Asia," the Left party said.

It said even as Iran accepted the diplomatic process to seek a negotiated settlement, the US-Israel axis attacked Iran and assassinated Iran's supreme leader and several of his family members and close officials.

"The people of Iran alone have the right to determine the future of their country and India must unequivocally denounce the US-Israel bid to subjugate Iran and install a puppet regime," it said.

Meanwhile, farmer organisations under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha also condemned the killing of the Iran's supreme leader.

In a statement issued here, the SKM urged the government to uphold the anti-imperialist tradition of India, and "not make India party to the nexus led by the Imperialist US and Zionist Israel that poses great threat to world peace".

"SKM calls upon all the political parties and the platforms and organisations of all sections of the people to unite and rally for world peace and to protect the sovereign rights of world nations and protect international law," it said.

Khamenei was killed in a major attack by Israel and the US. State media reported that the 86-year-old was killed in an air strike targeting his compound in downtown Tehran.

The US and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, with Trump calling on the Iranian public to seize control of their destiny and rise up against the Islamic leadership that has ruled their country since 1979. PTI AO KVK KVK