Friday's shocking assassination of Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in one of the world's safest countries stunned leaders and drew condemnation, with Iran calling it an “act of terrorism" while Spain slammed the “cowardly attack." Abe, 67, was shot from behind in Nara in western Japan while giving a campaign speech. He was airlifted to a hospital but was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was pronounced dead later at the hospital. Abe was Japan's longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020 for health reasons.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events around the country, called the shooting “dastardly and barbaric.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking with the Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers at a trilateral meeting in Bali, said Abe's assassination was “profoundly disturbing” and a "personal loss for so many people.” “For the United States, Prime Minister Abe was an extraordinary partner and someone who clearly was a great leader for Japan and the Japanese people," Blinken said, adding that Abe, during his time in office, "brought the relationship between our countries — the United States and Japan — to new heights.” Leaders from Turkey to Singapore condemned the attack, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the shooting “despicable”.
