Several people were killed on Sunday, March 1, 2026, and more than 100 were hurt as violent unrest broke out across Pakistan and Iraq following the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes. The deadliest confrontations occurred when crowds tried to storm the American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.
Security personnel opened fire on demonstrators in Karachi, the country’s largest city, leaving 10 dead and more than 50 injured after protesters shattered the consulate’s windows, set a nearby police post ablaze, and briefly broke through the compound’s perimeter. The clash in the southern port city accounted for nearly half of all casualties reported that day.
Summaiya Syed Tariq, a police surgeon at Karachi’s main public hospital, reported that six bodies were received at first, with four more critically wounded individuals later dying. Senior police officer Irfan Baloch said protesters briefly reached the consulate’s outer fence before security forces pushed them back, denying claims that parts of the building were set on fire.
The demonstrations spread nationwide in Pakistan, where Shiite Muslims make up roughly 15 to 20 percent of the 250 million population. In the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, as many as 14 people were killed in battles with police, according to local officials. (Figures differ among news outlets.) Protesters there attacked offices of the U.N. Military Observer Group and the U.N. Development Programme, torched police buildings, and damaged local charity centers before troops were deployed and a curfew was enacted.
Another two deaths were reported in Islamabad during clashes in which police used tear gas and live ammunition as thousands of demonstrators marched toward the U.S. Embassy. Authorities sealed all routes into the Red Zone, the heavily secured area housing foreign embassies and key government offices.
President Asif Ali Zardari offered condolences to Iran after Khamenei’s death. “Pakistan stands with the Iranian nation in this moment of grief and shares in their loss,” Zardari said in a statement from his office.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi urged restraint while acknowledging the widespread sorrow, asking citizens not to take the law into their own hands and to protest peacefully. He described it as a day of mourning for the Muslim Ummah and for the people of both Iran and Pakistan.
Khamenei, who was 86, served nearly 37 years as Iran’s Supreme Leader—the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East—and oversaw the development of a broad network of Iranian-backed militias across the region. His passing sent shockwaves through the Islamic world, especially among Shiite communities who saw him as a spiritual authority.
In Iraq, security forces used tear gas on hundreds of pro-Iran demonstrators who waved flags, hurled stones, and attempted to breach Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy. The unrest followed U.S.and Israeli strikes that killed Khamenei and several other leaders, also targeting Iran-aligned armed groups across the region.
Large crowds also gathered in Lahore and Peshawar, where police used tear gas and batons to prevent demonstrators from approaching U.S. consulates. In Multan, a city in Punjab province, protesters held a peaceful demonstration condemning the United States and Israel. Mamoona Sherazi, who attended, told reporters: “God willing, we will never bow before America and Israel.”
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said it was monitoring reports of protests at consulates in Karachi and Lahore, as well as planned demonstrations at the embassy in Islamabad and the consulate in Peshawar. The embassy advised American citizens to follow local news, steer clear of large gatherings, and remain vigilant.
Pakistan’s government increased security around U.S. diplomatic sites nationwide in response to the turmoil. Sindh Province Interior Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar cautioned that authorities would not accept disorder, urging citizens to voice their opinions peacefully.
Across the Middle East, Khamenei’s killing prompted widespread reactions. Tens of thousands of Hezbollah supporters and Shiite Muslims assembled in southern Beirut to mourn him, carrying flags and portraits of the late Iranian leader. Pro-Houthi media in Yemen claimed a million-person march in Sanaa in solidarity with Iran.
Iran-backed factions—including Hamas, the Houthis, Iraqi militias, and Hezbollah—issued statements of condolence. Hezbollah’s secretary general, Naim Qassem, praised Khamenei’s leadership of what Tehran calls the “axis of resistance” opposing U.S. and Israeli influence in the region.