Congress unequivocally condemns targeted assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei: Kharge

In a statement, Kharge said the Congress reiterates that it is the 'inalienable right' of every nation's citizens to determine their own political future and no external power has the authority to engineer regime change or dictate the leadership of another state.

New Delhi: Congress on Sunday "unequivocally" condemned the "targeted assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei in a military strike carried out "without a formal declaration of war", with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge saying that they stand in solidarity with Iranian people and Shia community as they navigate this "grave crisis".

In a statement, he said the Congress reiterates that it is the "inalienable right" of every nation's citizens to determine their own political future and no external power has the authority to engineer regime change or dictate the leadership of another state.

"Such actions amount to imperialism and are fundamentally incompatible with a genuinely rules-based international order," he said, without naming the United States and Israel that launched the attack against Iran in which Khamenei and others were killed.

The Congress extends its "deepest condolences" to the Supreme Leader's family, to the people of Iran, and the Shia community around the world in this moment of profound grief and "stand in solidarity with them as they navigate this grave crisis", he said.

"A targeted killing of a sitting head of state strikes at the heart of these international rules. Sovereignty is not conditional, and political legitimacy cannot be manufactured through force," he said.

Kharge recalled that India's foreign policy is anchored in a commitment to the peaceful settlement of disputes through dialogue and respect for international law, as mandated in Article 51 of the Constitution of India.

These principles -- sovereign equality, non-intervention and the promotion of peace -- are foundational to India's civilisational values, he said.

"Given this, the conflict in West Asia is deeply antithetical to our commitment to Vasudhaiva Kutumbaka ("the world is one family"), Mahatma Gandhi's doctrine of ahimsa (non-violence), Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's policy of non-alignment," he said.

"The targeted use of force to destabilise the leadership and governing structures of a sovereign state whether in Iran or earlier in Venezuela-signals a disturbing revival of regime-change doctrines and coercive unilateralism," he said.

It also contravenes the United Nations Charter-especially Article 2(4), which expressly prohibits "the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," and Article 2(7), which forbids intervention in matters essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state, he added.