Sonia Gandhi Questions Govt 'Silence' on Khamenei Death

March 3, 2026 - Former Congress party president Sonia Gandhi has questioned the Indian Government’s silence on the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. In an Opinion piece which was published in The Indian Express, the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson has called Centre’s silence an “abdication” rather than “neutrality”.

"The unease is compounded by the timing. Barely 48 hours before the assassination, the Prime Minister returned from a visit to Israel, where he reiterated unequivocal support for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, even as the Gaza conflict continues to draw global outrage over the scale of civilian casualties, many of them women and children," Gandhi said.

Calling the assassination of a Head of a State in the midst of negotiations as a “grave rupture in contemporary international relations”, Gandhi has described India’s silence as a “high-profile political endorsement without moral clarity”.

She asked why the Government of India refrained from condemning the assassination or the violation of Iranian sovereignty.

"When the targeted killing of a foreign leader draws no clear defence of sovereignty or international law from our country and impartiality is abandoned, it raises serious doubts about the direction and credibility of our foreign policy," she wrote. She further wrote, "Nearly 10 million Indians live and work across the Gulf. In past crises - from the Gulf War to Yemen to Iraq and Syria - India's ability to safeguard its citizens has rested on its credibility as an independent actor, not as a proxy.”

Gandhi has demanded a discussion on the government’s “disturbing silence” when the Parliament convenes for the second half of the Budget session.

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