Joint US and Israeli military strikes on Iran have seen the death of supreme leader Ayatolla Ali Khamenei, reportedly alongside 48 other leaders.
US President Donald Trump said the bombing of Iran would continue for “as long as necessary to achieve our objective”.
Iran has retaliated with strikes hitting Middle Eastern countries across the region.
Over the weekend, we asked our readers to share their views. Here are the first. We are going to run more as they come in. If you want to share your views please send them to newstips@stuffdigital.co.nz. Please share your full name and occupation and no more than 300 words.
Dr Panos Patros writes:
I am married to an Iranian-Kiwi and we have family in Iran. We are all jubilant for the events! The Iranians within Iran and in the diaspora have strongly asked for this intervention to happen and they are now delighted this evil terrorist dictator murderer is dead.
The community has a tremendous respect for the US and Israel for their brave and moral action, as well as the sacrifices they are making not only for the sake of Iranians, but for the world’s common good: safety since that regime was the global sponsor of terror but also economic prospect, since a free Iran will contribute to the world economy with their vast energy reserves and highly skilled, and culturally aligned, human capital.
Finally, Iranians around the world back Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to be the interim leader and take the country to a constitutional referendum to decide what type of secular democracy the people want!
These are historic moments, the celebrations for now hold!
Are you currently in the Middle East and been affected by the conflict? Send your story to newstips@stuffdigital.co.nz
John Hastie says:
I am horrified and appalled by the illegal action undertaken by the US and Israeli armed forces against the nation of Iran.
Whilst I do not agree with the Iranian oppressive regime, I cannot condone what the US and Israel have done.
Just because the US president doesn’t like a leader is no reason to assassinate him (or kidnap him as he did to the Venezuelan leader).
We should live in a world where international laws are respected by all, rather than what I am seeing at the moment where it seems as if “might is right” is the way to do things.
How can we as NZers not condemn this action, as we did with the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
Unfortunately as we have seen in the opening day of this operation, too many innocent people have died as the result of the bombings.
I implore all leaders to condemn this action and get all parties to the negotiating tables once more.
Sana Oladi writes:
As an Iranian Kiwi with my entire family living in Iran, I share the same sentiment as them. We are ecstatic and celebrating, caught between disbelief and a sense of relief. The evil dictator who caused so much pain to my people is dead.
He ordered the slaughter of over 30,000 Iranians, including over 200 children, according to conservative estimates, for peaceful protests.
The US and Israel embarked on a humanitarian action to help Iranians while much of the world was looking the other way. Iranians are, and will always be, grateful to them.
Now we await the leader of the transition government, Prince Reza Pahlavi, to give Iran the green light to return to the streets and reclaim our country from the terrorist regime that has occupied it for almost 50 years. We are ecstatic and grateful that they had enough decency to help Iranians. Everyone I know in Iran, friends, family, former co-workers, shares the same sentiment.
Iran will be free soon and, under the leadership of Prince Reza Pahlavi, will become a secular democracy.
Graham Maclean says:
I don’t want to have USA at war with Iran but we need to ensure that Iran cannot start a nuclear war.