Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has publicly condemned his father after the former politician posted a tribute to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, describing him as a “martyr” following his death in US-Israeli air strikes.
Speaking to reporters at Glasgow Airport, Sarwar was direct in his rejection of his father’s remarks. “He’s wrong,” the Scottish Labour leader said.
The tribute was posted by Chaudhry Sarwar — a former Glasgow Labour MP and later Governor of Punjab — on X, where he wrote in Urdu that his heart was “saddened by the martyrdom of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.” According to X’s translation of the post, he added that the Muslim world had lost “a strong voice of resistance” and called on Allah to “grant him Paradise”, also stating that he shared “the grief of the Iranian nation equally.”
Anas Sarwar, in distancing himself from those comments, noted that Khamenei had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians inside Iran.
The public split between father and son comes after Khamenei was killed on Saturday following strikes carried out by the United States and Israel. The death of the Iranian Supreme Leader has prompted a range of reactions from political and religious figures across the world, with tributes from some quarters drawing significant criticism in the UK.
Chaudhry Sarwar held prominent roles in both British and Pakistani public life, serving as a Labour MP for Glasgow before later taking up the position of Governor of Punjab. His decision to publicly mourn Khamenei and frame his death in terms of religious martyrdom has now placed him at odds with his son, who leads one of Scotland’s major political parties.
The episode is likely to prompt further scrutiny of how public figures in Britain have responded to Khamenei’s death, following separate controversy over a UCL student society that similarly described the Ayatollah’s passing as an “unimaginable loss.” Anas Sarwar has not indicated whether he intends to address the matter further beyond his remarks at Glasgow Airport.
