THIS is with reference to the editorial “Khamenei’s killing” (March 2) which was candid and outspoken, daring to say that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu must be held accountable for their blood-stained adventurism.

Aggressors unleashing unprovoked strikes and eliminating leaders in their safe office compound in the heart of Iran with bombers and precision technology must face the consequences of their dreaded actions.

The continuing attack is a cowardly act against defiance and resistance, an assault on sovereignty of a state, international law and the moral foundations of what we have in the fancy name of global order.

The slain Iranian leader was no marginal figure. For decades, he embodied resistance — challenging Israel’s expansionist designs and questioning America’s monopoly and hegemony. Deeply rooted in Iran’s political, military, religious and cultural frame-work, he symbolised defiance for millions. His assassination is a colossal crime against the proud nation of Iran.

More troubling is that diplomacy was in motion. Talks had created a flicker of hope that dialogue might temper hostility. Instead, negotiations actually served as a smokescreen for the intelligence network to prepare for the lethal strikes. Such a conduct sends a chilling message: that force, not fairness, determines outcomes. It weakens multilateralism and erodes the credibility of global institutions designed to prevent precisely such escalations.

A British lawmaker rightly called Trump “an international gangster”. This is not rhetorical excess; it captures a widening global unease — the fear that the world is sliding back to an era where the powerful act with impunity, trampling sovereignty while preaching the virtues of following rules to everyone else. Selective invocation of pre-emptive doctrines corrodes the very norms they claim to defend.

While bombers can shatter buildings and decimate individuals, they cannot extinguish ideas. The visible unity of the Iranian nation standing behind its slain leader’s legacy — and the continuity of its revolutionary convictions — is a moral defeat of the war machinery. It is fair to say that the world cannot afford such madness. In an age bristling with nuclear arsenals and volatile alliances, arrogance is not strength; res-traint is. Let sanity prevail over supremacy. Let dialogue replace destruction. Before the drums of war grow deafening, let the guardians of global order rediscover courage — not in bombs, but in negotiation.

Qamer Soomro
Shikarpur

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2026