Death of Iran’s Khamenei sparks outrage and calls for restraint in Asia

South China Morning Post · Mar 1, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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The killing of Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli air strikes has prompted governments across Muslim-majority South and Southeast Asia to reiterate calls for restraint as protests flared in several cities, with some religious and political movements hailing the cleric as a “martyr”.Iranian state media confirmed Khamenei’s death on Sunday and declared a 40-day mourning period, casting the assassination as a pivotal moment for the Islamic Republic he had led since 1989.Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim condemned the escalation and called for an immediate ceasefire, focusing on the broader conflict rather than Khamenei personally.“The Israeli strikes on Iran, and the American military action that has accompanied them, bring the Middle East to the edge of catastrophe,” Anwar said in a statement on Saturday.He described Israel’s initiation of the attacks as “a vile attempt to sabotage ongoing negotiations and to drag other nations into a conflict that could prove impossible to contain”, urging the United States and Iran to pursue a diplomatic solution without “double standards”.Anwar also said Malaysia was monitoring the safety of its citizens in Iran and elsewhere in the region.