Pope Leo XIV issued an urgent call to halt the escalating violence in the Middle East during his Sunday Angelus address on March 1, 2026, just two days after a massive joint U.S.-Israeli military operation killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and decimated the country’s senior leadership. Speaking from St. Peter’s Square, the first American-born pontiff in history pleaded with all parties to step back from what he described as a spiral of violence, as America Magazine reported.
The strikes began in the predawn hours of February 28, 2026, with the Pentagon dubbing the operation “Epic Fury” and Israel calling it “Roaring Lion.” Israeli and U.S. forces struck targets across 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to America Magazine’s reporting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the assault as a preemptive attack on Iran, while President Donald Trump told NBC News that most of Iran’s senior leadership was gone following the operation.
Khamenei, 86, was confirmed dead by Iranian state media, as NPR reported. Israel’s military stated that among those killed were the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s defense minister. The secretary of the Iranian Security Council, described as a close adviser to Khamenei, was also reportedly killed. The Iranian government announced 40 days of mourning in the wake of the supreme leader’s death.
The human toll extended far beyond Iran’s leadership. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said more than 200 people were killed in strikes across the country. In one particularly devastating incident, In one particularly devastating incident, more than 140 people were reported killed and scores injured in an Israeli strike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab, according to Iranian state media and the semiofficial Iranian news agency Mehr., according to the semiofficial Iranian news agency Mehr.
Iran did not absorb the blows passively. Tehran responded by launching drones and ballistic missiles against Israel and against U.S. military targets in Gulf States and Jordan. The Jordanian government reported it intercepted 49 drones and ballistic missiles threatening its territory, underscoring the breadth of the retaliatory barrage.
Two U.S. officials told NBC News that Israel had been tasked with targeting Iranian leaders while the United States focused on Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. The trigger for the February 28 strikes appeared to be the unsuccessful latest round of nuclear talks on Thursday, according to PBS News. This marked the second time in eight months that the Trump administration attacked Iran, following a 12-day war in June 2025 aimed at eliminating Iran’s nuclear capability.
The international reaction was swift and sharply divided. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned at an emergency Security Council meeting that the attack on Iran carries the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the targeted killing of Iran’s supreme leader a “cynical murder,” according to Russian state media agency TASS, as CNN reported.
Fallout from the strikes rippled across the globe. In Karachi, Pakistan, at least nine protesters were killed after they stormed the heavily fortified U.S. Consulate to protest the military action. Meanwhile, German shipping group Hapag-Lloyd suspended all vessel transit through the Strait of Hormuz due to the deteriorating security situation, according to Reuters.
Back in Washington, the strikes deepened partisan divisions. Top congressional Democrats criticized Trump’s decision to launch military actions in Iran, arguing the strikes required congressional authorization. Most Republicans praised the action. The political fault lines mirrored a broader debate about executive war powers that has intensified under the current administration.
Pope Leo XIV, who became pontiff in May 2025, has not shied away from confronting the Trump administration’s use of military force. He had previously criticized the administration’s military operations in the Caribbean and the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, according to Axios. His Sunday address represented his most forceful intervention yet on the escalating conflict.
In the hours before Khamenei’s death was confirmed, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had told NBC News that the supreme leader and President Masoud Pezeshkian were alive as far as he knew. That statement was overtaken by events when Israeli officials confirmed the killing, plunging Iran into a succession crisis atop a military catastrophe.
As the region braces for further escalation, the pope’s plea for diplomacy stands in stark contrast to the military momentum driving events on the ground. With Iran’s leadership shattered, retaliatory strikes already underway, and global shipping disrupted, the conflict shows no signs of abating.
