Iraq’s top Shiite cleric offers condolences over Khamenei death

Several people were killed on Sunday after hundreds of protesters stormed the US consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, authorities said.

The violence followed attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Police said the protesters were later dispersed and that the situation was under control.

Police and hospital officials in Karachi said at least eight other people were wounded in clashes between protesters and security forces near the consulate compound.

Multiple powerful explosions shook Tehran on Sunday, said Nour News, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Israel’s military also said it launched a broad wave of strikes in the heart of Tehran for the first time since the start of the attacks.

The military said the Israeli Air Force, guided by intelligence, began targeting sites belonging to the “Iranian terror regime” in the capital.

It said that over the past day the air force had carried out large-scale strikes aimed at establishing aerial superiority and paving the way to Tehran.

Iran appointed Ahmad Vahidi, a former defense and interior minister, as the new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Sunday, state media reported on Sunday.

Vahidi is under US sanctions for his role in Iran’s suppression of protests, including the use of lethal force by security services during the 2022 nationwide protests.

The announcement followed the Saturday killing of several senior Iranian military commanders, including Mohammad Pakpour, the previous head of the Guards.

Iran confirmed on Sunday the deaths of two other senior commanders of the Islamic Republic’s armed forces in US and Israeli airstrikes.

Those killed were Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Abdolrahim Mousavi and Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran’s defense minister and a former air force commander and deputy chief of staff of the armed forces.

Iran’s state media reported the two men were killed along with IRGC Commander-in-Chief Mohammad Pakpour and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s adviser Ali Shamkhani while attending a meeting of the Defense Council.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they launched “extensive missile and drone” attacks targeting US military bases and Israeli sites across the region.

In a statement Sunday morning, the IRGC said the strikes targeted 27 US bases as well as Israeli facilities including the Tel Nof Airbase, the Israeli army’s command headquarters at HaKirya in Tel Aviv and a major defense industrial complex in the city.

Tehran will take “a different and harsh step of revenge with successive, regrettable slaps,” the statement warned.