Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto has finally broken his silence on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death in a condolences letter directed to Tehran.

Questions rose when Indonesia stayed quiet when a US-Israeli joint operation killed Khamenei over the weekend. Some world leaders had offered their condolences. Anwar Ibrahim, the prime minister to close neighbor Malaysia, issued a strong-worded statement on the assassination. 

“I conveyed a letter from President Prabowo to [Iranian] President Masoud Pezeshkian expressing Indonesia's deepest condolences on the passing of His Excellency Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran,” Foreign Minister Sugiono wrote in a social media post after a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Indonesia Mohammad Boroujerdi on Wednesday.

During the discussions, Jakarta underlined the “urgent need to prevent further escalation through diplomacy”, according to Sugiono.

When the conflict broke out, Prabowo quickly offered to step in as a mediator between the United States and Iran. He is even willing to head to Tehran to directly facilitate the dialogue, which would mark the first time for Prabowo to set foot in the oil-rich country. Iran, however, has shown no interest in talks with the Donald Trump government. 

Ex-Deputy Foreign Minister Dino Patti Djalal previously rebuked the Indonesian government for avoiding condolences, citing that this "cold attitude" might have dampened Jakarta’s chance to convince Iran to engage in dialogue.

“Expressions of condolences are customary when the leader of a friendly country to Indonesia dies. Is this forgetfulness or intentional? If intentional, what are we afraid of?” Dino said.

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