Amid War in the Middle East Panama Calls for Peace and Balance

2026-03-02 - 21:17

The Panamanian government issued a statement Monday regarding the escalation in the Middle East. Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha said the country hopes that “a peaceful solution can be reached and hostilities will cease as soon as possible,” following the US and Israeli airstrikes against Iran and Tehran’s response. From Panama City, the Panamanian foreign minister affirmed that the country maintains its historical stance. “As a country that always seeks peace and aims to reduce conflicts and controversies, we are prepared to contribute to achieving these objectives,” he told the media. Martínez-Acha also spoke of maintaining “a balanced position” in this scenario which he described as a “complex world”, not only because of the escalation in the Middle East, but also because of the war between Ukraine and Russia. However, the foreign minister pointed out that one cannot “be passive in the face of the reality of a regime that has violated all kinds of rights of its population and that has enriched uranium beyond civilian use,” referring to Iran. The conflict escalated after the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and several high-ranking military officials. Iran has vowed revenge and warned it will respond with maximum force. The bombing continued throughout the weekend. Tehran responded with attacks against Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and US bases in several countries in the region. The Story Regarding the Operation that Located Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei The attack that killed Iran’s supreme leader did not happen in the middle of the night, as might have been expected, but in the middle of the morning. This was because the United States and Israel decided to take advantage of a crucial piece of intelligence that arrived hours before the incident. For months they waited for an opportunity when senior Iranian officials would be gathered together and learned that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be at a compound in central Tehran on Saturday morning. They also knew the location of other high-ranking military and intelligence officials who would be meeting at the same time. For months, both countries tracked the movements of the supreme leader, who ruled Iran since 1989. The exact methods they used are secret, although President Donald Trump hinted at something in a social media post. “He couldn’t evade our intelligence and our highly sophisticated tracking systems,” he commented. It could have referred to a human source, but it is more likely that it was a technical tracking of individuals. In the 12-day war last June, Israel targeted scientists and officials linked to the Iranian nuclear program and reportedly used penetration of telecommunications and mobile phone systems to understand the movement of people. That sometimes included tracking the movements of bodyguards linked to high-ranking officials. Trump and his team monitored events from a makeshift war room at Mar-a-Lake, Florida. In the long term, this can help build a “life pattern” to predict and understand activities, as well as identify moments of vulnerability. Iran knew that the supreme leader was in the sights of its enemies, and therefore the failure to identify and address these vulnerabilities in recent months suggests either a profound failure in Iranian security and counterintelligence, or the ability of Israel and the United States to continue adapting their methods and finding new ways of tracking. The Iranians may also have calculated that a daylight attack was less likely. In this case, the intelligence, according to The New York Times, came from the CIA but was passed on to Israel to carry out the attack. These are the targets of the US and Israeli attacks in Iran, verified by the BBC. Organizational chart of the Iranian leaders who died in the Israeli and US attacks. At the top is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, followed by Mohammad Pakpour, commander-in-chief of the IRGC, Al-Shamkhani, secretary of the defense council, and Aziz Nasirzadeh, defense minister. The Attack Against the Supreme Leader Everything indicates that there is a division of tasks: Israel focuses on attacks against leaders and the United States on military targets. Intelligence provided enough information to anticipate the movements of the supreme leader and other officials to plan an attack with aircraft capable of firing long-range missiles. Instead of a single attack against Ayatollah Khamenei, the plan was for the first bombing to kick off a broader military campaign, and it was brought forward to take advantage of the window of opportunity. Israeli planes can take about two hours to reach Tehran, but it is not clear from what distance they fired their munitions. It was reported that Israeli aircraft used 30 bombs to attack the compound where the supreme leader was located at around 9:40 a.m. local time. This could have been because the supreme leader used an underground bunker under the complex for protection (although it was not one of the deepest in the regime). Multiple rounds of ammunition may have been necessary to penetrate deep enough to ensure that the target was hit. Other locations in the Iranian capital were also attacked, including the office of President Masoud Pezeshkian, who later issued a statement saying he was safe. Israel said seven senior Iranian defense officials were among the dead, including Defense Council secretary Ali Shamkhani, Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh and IRGC commander General Mohammad Pakpour. When the planes attacked, it was the middle of the night at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where Trump had met with some of his top officials to monitor developments. Hours would pass before confirmation arrived that the supreme leader had died in the attacks. Iran was prepared for this possibility, with reports indicating that succession plans were already in place not only for the supreme leader, but also for a number of senior officials. That means it is still unclear what this death will mean for the course of the conflict. Our thanks to Gordon Corera – BBC News Security Analyst who contributed to this report. If you wish to contribute stories to NewsroomPanama.com please send them to PanamaNewsroom@gmail.com