Celso Amorim condemns the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader and warns of global consequences

The President’s special advisor for International Affairs, Celso Amorim, classified as “totally condemnable” and “unacceptable” the death of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, which occurred after attacks attributed to the United States and Israel. In an interview with the newspaper The Globethe diplomat stated that the episode represents a serious precedent in international relations and could increase geopolitical instability.

According to Amorim, the elimination of a head of state through external military action cannot be normalized in the international system. “I think that, obviously, killing a leader of a country, from a distance, is totally reprehensible, it is unacceptable. No one can arrogate in judgment of the world”, he declared. He stressed that criticism does not imply evaluation of the Iranian regime. “I’m not going into the merits of the Iranian government, that’s another issue, but it’s for the Iranians to judge and act,” he added.

Assessment of internal political impacts

In the advisor’s analysis, the military operation should not strengthen opposition groups within Iran nor contribute to immediate political changes. For him, external actions of this type tend to produce the opposite effect to that expected by those who carry them out.

“What was done is not an aid to the Iranian opposition, if you imagine, a direct attack, in short, an assassination of a leader of another country. Right or wrong the leader, that doesn’t interest me, I think this is highly reprehensible”, he stated.

Amorim also highlighted that Iranian political reality is more complex than often portrayed. He recalled that he was in the country on diplomatic missions at the request of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and stated that he observed a society with internal divisions, but not institutional collapse. “It is a country that obviously has divisions, has an opposition, has several things that we can criticize from our point of view, but it is not a country that is totally divided, totally weakened, totally weakened,” he said.

Prolonged crisis scenario

The advisor assesses that the international situation resulting from the episode tends to be prolonged and difficult to resolve. For him, there is no indication that the conflict will quickly evolve into a simple diplomatic or military solution.

“It’s something lasting, I don’t know exactly what direction it will take, but it won’t be a simple matter,” he said. When comparing with previous conflicts, he added that the current case presents greater strategic and political complexity.

Khamenei’s death was confirmed by the Iranian government and occurred amid a regional military escalation following attacks on state structures attributed to the United States and Israel. The position of supreme leader is the highest political and religious authority in Iran, a role created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and held by Khamenei since 1989, when he succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini.

Experts estimate that the succession in Iranian command and the international reaction to the attacks will be decisive factors in defining the direction of the crisis in the coming months.