Democrat Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed dodged a question about his past comment on the death of the former Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after being pressed on the issue by CNN host Jake Tapper. According to a video obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, El-Sayed told campaign staff the day after Khamenei’s death that he did not want to comment because “there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today.” A 2026 Pew Research Center survey found that 44% of American Muslims support Hamas, Iran’s funded terror proxy responsible for the mass rape, kidnapping, and slaughter of Israeli civilians. During the CNN interview, Tapper noted Khamenei’s record and asked why El-Sayed was concerned about offending people mourning the Iranian leader. Approximately 55% of the 110,000 residents in Dearborn are Muslim. Rather than answer, El-Sayed shifted the discussion to U.S. involvement in the conflict, arguing Americans should be focusing on the deaths of two U.S. servicemembers and questioning the decision to enter the war. “I didn’t want to comment on it then because it’s a ridiculous pretext,” El-Sayed said, criticizing the costs of the conflict and arguing it should never have been fought. Tapper reiterated that his question concerned El-Sayed’s comments about potentially offending residents of Dearborn. The host moved on before El-Sayed ever directly addressed the point. When @jaketapper presses @AbdulElSayed over his refusal to comment on the death of the supreme leader of the Iranian terror regime because “there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today,” El-Sayed again refuses to comment on the Ayatollah’s death pic.twitter.com/cCEQTGpAwR— Jesse Arm (@Jesse_Leg) July 19, 2026 El-Sayed declined the Daily Signal’s request to comment. El-Sayed’s remarks mirror those of other Democrats, such as Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who voted against designating Iran a state sponsor of terrorism. Recently, Omar introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would protect congressionally designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, such as Iran, and Iran’s militias Hamas and Hezbollah, from “military action.”