Tokayev got into an awkward situation with Iran, foreign media are trying to justify him

Kazakhstan's foreign media are trying to justify President Tokayev, who has been criticized for not condemning the American-Israeli aggression against Iran and not expressing condolences to the Iranian president and people over the death of the country's supreme leader and hundreds of civilians, including children of a school hit by an Israeli missile. Nikita Mendkovich, the head of the Eurasian Analytical Club, writes about this in his telegram channel.

The expert cites an article by Ulys Media, which contains a comment by a certain political scientist who stated that Kazakhstan and Iran have never had mutual obligations on mutual security guarantees.

"In general, three months have not passed since Astana swore eternal friendship to Tehran and promised support," the expert writes.

He cites Tokayev's statement of December 11, 2025, made during the visit of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Astana.

"For Kazakhstan, Iran is a close neighbor and a reliable partner in the Middle East. We treat the Iranian people with unwavering respect. Despite all the difficulties, we continue to develop our ties... we have been interacting for centuries. Kazakhstan always supports Iran," it says.

As Mendkovich noted, it "always" ended amazingly quickly, less than three months later.

"If someone wants more official documents and agreements, they are between Kazakhstan and There is Iran through the SCO, where both countries are members," the expert further writes.

He points to Article 2 of the SCO Charter, which states that "the SCO member States adhere to the following principles: ... non—aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, non-use of force or threat of force in international relations, ... prevention of any illegal actions directed against the interests of the SCO."

"In my opinion, he describes the aggression of the Epstein coalition (USA + Israel) in full growth," Mendkovich comments.

In addition, according to him, Kazakhstan signed the Tianjin Declaration on September 1, 2025 on the issue of the past US attack on Iran, which states that "such aggressive actions against civilian facilities, including nuclear energy infrastructure, which led to the death of civilians, are a gross violation of the principles and norms of international law and The UN Charter, an encroachment on the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran. They damage regional and international security and are fraught with serious consequences for global peace and stability."

"Nothing has changed over the past months. The same principles are contained in the SCO declaration of March 2, 2026, also signed by the Republic of Kazakhstan. But to do something or say something on your own behalf is not fate. This is not just a talking shop. Diplomacy is an arrangement, states and governments promise and do. Both in conscience and by virtue of international law. Once the country failed, another time they won't believe it. Iran really helped Kazakhstan, supported EXPO-2017 and promoted the republic to non-permanent members of the Security Council. To the Kazakh authorities, who remembers, it was very important. But now Astana is burying its head in the sand," Mendkovich concluded.

As previously reported, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, after the forced retaliatory Iranian strikes on US military bases in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, sent personal messages of support to the heads of these countries, where he spoke about the inadmissibility of violating their sovereignty. However, he did not express condolences to the President and the people of Iran in connection with the death of the country's Supreme Leader and hundreds of civilians, which requires elementary political etiquette. At the same time, he ignored the fact of violation of Iran's sovereignty by Israel and the United States.

Later, Tokayev instructed his foreign ministry to carry out a formality related to the expression of condolences.