Anwar warns US-Iran hostilities risk wider regional conflict, urges return to diplomacy

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today urged the US and Iran to immediately halt further escalation and return to diplomacy amid renewed hostilities between the two countries. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

First Published: Wednesday, 02 Sep 2026 6:50 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today urged the United States (US) and Iran to immediately halt further escalation and return to diplomacy amid renewed hostilities between the two countries.

He warned that the latest exchange of strikes, which has extended beyond the immediate parties and into other states in the region, risks drawing the wider Middle East into an even more destructive conflict.

In a Facebook post, Anwar said the party with the greatest capacity to shape events bears a particular responsibility to exercise restraint and prevent further escalation.

“The sovereignty of other states cannot be cast aside. No military objective justifies exposing civilians to an expanding conflict,” he said.

Anwar also cautioned against economic measures that inflict hardship on civilians and impede diplomatic engagement, saying such actions risk exacerbating rather than resolving the crisis.

“I urge the United States and Iran to halt further escalation and return immediately to diplomacy and the understandings reached in June,” he said.

The Prime Minister stressed that the conflict could ultimately be resolved only through political and diplomatic means, adding that the world must not be made to pay the price for a wider regional war.  — Bernama