BAGHDAD: Iraq’s top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned against targeting Iran’s leadership and said that the Iran-Israel war could plunge the whole region into chaos.

Sistani said in a statement on Thursday that any targeting of Iran’s “supreme religious and political leadership” would have “dire consequences on the region”. He warned that such action against the Islamic republic could spark “widespread chaos that would exacerbate the suffering of its (the region’s) people and severely harm everyone’s interests”.

Sistani urged the international community to “make every effort to end this unjust war and find a peaceful solution” to concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme. Sistani, an Iranian, is the highest religious authority for millions of Shias in Iraq and around the world, with the power to mobilise a huge following in Iraq.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thurs­day that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Kha­me­nei “can no longer be allowed to exist” after an Israeli hospital was hit during an Iranian missile attack.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2025