VIENNA, March 3. /TASS/. The US and Israel have opened Pandora's box by assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and must answer for "the profound and far-reaching consequences," Iran's ambassador to Austria Asadollah Eshrang Jahromi said at a press conference.

"The United States and the Israeli regime deliberately targeted the highest official of a sovereign member state of the United Nations, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei. This cowardly act of terror constitutes a direct assault on the very core principles of international law, including the prohibition on the use of force, the respect for sovereign equality, and the inviolability and immunity of the heads of states. It represents a dangerous and unprecedented escalation that strikes at the most fundamental norms of statehood and civilized conduct among nations," the diplomat said.

"It recklessly opens a dangerous Pandora’s box, eroding the bedrock of sovereign equality and the stability of the international system."

Asadollah Eshrang Jahromi said that Khamenei was respected by "tens of millions of Muslims in the region and around the world," this is why his assassination "has profound and far-reaching consequences," for which Israel and the United States will bear "full responsibility.".