At least 17 people were killed Sunday across Pakistan as protesters outraged over the death of Iran’s supreme leader took to the streets, with some attempting to storm US diplomatic buildings.In the Pakistani megacity of Karachi, an AFP journalist witnessed hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters trying to enter the US consulate, prompting clashes with police.At least 10 people had died and over 70 were injured as of Sunday evening, the office of the Karachi police surgeon said.Earlier, a hospital toll seen by AFP listed nine people as having died from gunshot wounds.In the northern city of Gilgit, at least seven people were killed and many more injured in clashes with police, rescue official Zaheer Shah told AFP by phone.Thousands gathered in the streets of the capital Islamabad, many holding photos of late Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, with AFP witnessing police deploy tear gas to disperse crowds near the US embassy.Israel and the United States launched their mass aerial campaign on Iran early Saturday, quickly killing the long-ruling supreme leader and prompting outrage in neighouring Pakistan.Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has close ties with both the United States and Iran, said on Sunday evening that the killing of Khamenei was a “violation” of international law.”It is an age old convention that the Heads of State/Government should not be targeted,” Sharif wrote on X.The “people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow and extend the most sincere condolences on the martyrdom” of Khamenei, he added.At Sunday’s Karachi protest, people chanted slogans against the United States, Israel and their allies.”We don’t need anything in Pakistan that is linked with the US,” a protester, Sabir Hussain, told AFP.Earlier a crowd of young people climbed over the main gate and gained access to the driveway of the consular building, smashing some windows.Police fired tear gas at the protesters, who dispersed, the AFP journalist saw.The embassies of the United States and Britain both urged citizens in Pakistan to be cautious in the country.- American ‘stooges’ -Around 4,000 people took to the streets in the capital Islamabad, where AFP journalists heard overhead gunfire, believed to be to disperse the crowd, and saw tear gas even before the planned start of a rally at 3:00 pm.Zahra Mumtaz, a 52-year-old housewife from nearby Rawalpindi, said: “Our leader has been martyred, and we are not even allowed to protest.””The least the government could do is let us express our grief,” she told AFP, crying.”Our leaders are nothing but stooges of the Americans… The Americans and Israelis will have to pay for this.”In the northern city of Skardu, protesters stormed and set fire to a United Nations office, causing black smoke to rise from the building, an AFP reporter saw.At least three nearby vehicles were completely burned.Thousands of people also took to the streets in the eastern city of Lahore.Since the launch of the US-Israeli operations, Prime Minister Sharif has announced several calls with other regional leaders — whose countries have been targeted by Iranian retaliatory attacks — and urged restraint.His statements have notably called the attacks on Iran an Israeli operation — excluding mention of the major US involvement.

The killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the ongoing US-Israeli bombing campaign have ushered in a period of uncertainty for the country’s leadership.At the beginning of the air campaign, US President Donald Trump urged Iranians to seize power once it was over, having voiced support for mass protests against the clerical leadership that peaked in January before a deadly crackdown.- Continuity for now – Today “the country appears ‘tightly controlled’,” said Pierre Razoux, director of the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies (FMES), after the authorities in recent days closed universities, deployed security forces in cities and cut the internet. “Everything is being done to prevent protests. As long as the public is not convinced that the repressive apparatus — 600,000 Basij (volunteer paramilitary) and 250,000 internal security forces — has been neutralised, they are unlikely to take to the streets again.”Iran’s political system has procedures for the succession of the supreme leader, and his “removal does not mean the end” for a system with many centres of power and redundancies in place, Razoux told AFP. He expected a scenario of “continuity of the regime with new rules of the game — perhaps to the detriment of the clerics, but with the same people in charge”. Researcher Theo Nencini of Sciences Po Grenoble said: “The entire direction of the regime will depend on the choice of the new supreme leader.”In Venezuela in January, after US forces snatched president Nicolas Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez took charge with Trump’s endorsement and the regime survived in return for concessions to Washington.French-Iranian sociologist Azadeh Kian speculated to broadcaster Franceinfo that Trump might be “looking to come to an understanding with a more moderate wing of the regime”.Khamenei’s killing “could give rise to significant rivalries within the circles of power between the Revolutionary Guards and the civilian leadership,” she said, “But for now, they are all working together to keep the system in place”.- The Guards’ moment? – “The alternative is a takeover by the Pasdaran,” the country’s ideological army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Razoux said.While its commander Mohammad Pakpour was killed in Saturday’s strikes, the IRGC remains an extremely well-organised force, with considerable influence in Iranian society, politics and the economy. “In reality, the rebalancing of power in favour of the Revolutionary Guards has already happened” in recent years, Nencini said. “But a transition towards a more militarised regime under their leadership is a possibility — a more conventional military regime, without the current Shiite religious framework. Still, I find it hard to imagine them doing away with the religious veneer altogether,” he added.- The regular army – With a force of 350,000 men, according to the specialist publication Military Balance 2026, Iran’s army “does not carry political weight today, but it could still play a role in the future if the military decides to take a political direction different from that of the Guards”, Nencini said. Razoux said the Iranian army “may hold one of the keys, and its positioning will be crucial — in relation to the population, the leadership and the Guards alike”. “There is no indication of its intentions. At the moment it is stretched thin, busy defending the country and trying to limit the damage,” he added.Moreover, in the event of a political shift, the armed forces will “need to demonstrate that they have fulfilled their role and carried out their mission”. The army could also rally behind another figure, but according to Nencini, there is “no credible political figure offering an alternative among the opposition”.- Fractured opposition – The opposition inside Iran is repressed and imprisoned, illustrated by the case of jailed 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi.Opposition movements in exile have long been divided.The deposed shah’s eldest son, Reza Pahlavi, “is being promoted by Western media” and appears to be gaining in popularity, Nencini said, but his credibility in the eyes of people inside Iran remains unclear.”There is a spectrum of opponents in Iran who could take action in the future,” Kian said, also pointing to the emergence of demands from ethnic minorities such as the Kurds and Baluchis.But for these groups to carry real weight, they would need to form “a coalition”, she said, stressing that these minorities wouldn’t accept submission to Pahlavi, who “lacks the structures and institutions necessary to come to power”. 

The US military on Sunday said three service members have been killed and five seriously wounded in the war against Iran — the first casualties announced on the US side.The news, which could have serious political ramifications in Washington, came as President Donald Trump emphasized successes in the operation, announcing that nine Iranian naval ships had been sunk and not referring to the US deaths.The United States and Israel launched massive bombardments against Iran and killed its supreme leader Saturday, with attacks ongoing Sunday.There was no indication from officials about how or exactly where the American casualties occurred.”Three U.S. service members have been killed in action and five are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury. Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions — and are in the process of being returned to duty,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.”Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing. The situation is fluid, so out of respect for the families, we will withhold additional information, including the identities of our fallen warriors, until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.”Trump, spending the weekend at his Florida resort, gave multiple interviews to US media outlets about other aspects of the Iran operation that were published shortly before the casualties were made public.He told Fox News that 48 Iranian leaders had been killed “in one shot” and told The Atlantic that he was ready to open negotiations but “can’t tell” when.”Things are evolving in a very positive way right now, a very positive way,” he said in another interview with CNBC.Well after the news broke about the US losses, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Iran’s navy was being targeted — but again avoided mentioning the casualties.”We have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important,” Trump posted. The country’s naval headquarters, he said, was “largely destroyed.”- ‘Reckless’ war accusation -The only senior Trump administration official to react initially to the news of US casualties was the ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, who posted simply: “Freedom is never free.”Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Trump’s Republican Party, posted that he was “heartbroken” over the fatalities.”No more American heroes need to die because of a reckless decision to go to war. Congress must act this week to restrain this president,” Jeffries said.US air and naval forces — together with Israel’s military — are heavily bombarding Iran, and Trump has said the goal is to destroy the country’s military capacity.In response, Iran has fired missiles at targets in Israel and at US military facilities around the region.Earlier Sunday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had successfully struck the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf with four ballistic missiles.However, CENTCOM said the vessel “was not hit.””The missiles launched didn’t even come close. The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime,” a statement said.CENTCOM said US forces had sunk an Iranian Jamaran-class corvette warship at a dock in the Gulf of Oman.The military also announced that B-2 stealth bombers carrying 2,000-pound bombs had been used against “Iran’s hardened ballistic missile facilities.”