At Least 25 Killed at Pakistan's Pro-Iran Weekend Protests

Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP
Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP
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At Least 25 Killed at Pakistan's Pro-Iran Weekend Protests

Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP
Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP

The death toll from Pakistan's violent weekend protests over the killing of Iran's supreme leader has reached at least 25, according to an AFP tally on Monday.

Demonstrations erupted in several major cities in Pakistan, including the southern megacity of Karachi where some protesters attempted to storm American diplomatic buildings.

An AFP journalist witnessed hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters trying to enter the United States consulate, prompting clashes with police.

At least 10 deaths were reported and over 70 were injured, the office of the Karachi police surgeon said, while a hospital toll seen by AFP listed nine people as having died from gunshot wounds.

In Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, at least 13 people were killed in clashes between protesters and police, officials said.

Seven people were killed in Gilgit, a rescue official said, while six others died in Skardu, a doctor told AFP on Monday.

Authorities have imposed a late-night curfew, which will remain in place until Wednesday in Gilgit and Skardu, where the army has been deployed on the streets.

Two more people were killed as thousands of people gathered in the streets of the capital, Islamabad, many holding photos of the late Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.

AFP journalists saw police firing tear gas to disperse crowds near the diplomatic enclave housing the US embassy on Sunday afternoon.

- 'Grief and sorrow' -

Israel and the United States launched their military operations on Iran early Saturday, quickly killing the long-ruling supreme leader and prompting outrage in neighboring 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.



Israel Says France Bans Its Officials from Weapons Show

A convoy of military vehicles is seen in southern Lebanon from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
A convoy of military vehicles is seen in southern Lebanon from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
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Israel Says France Bans Its Officials from Weapons Show

A convoy of military vehicles is seen in southern Lebanon from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
A convoy of military vehicles is seen in southern Lebanon from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 01 June 2026. (EPA)

Israel's defense ministry said on Monday France had banned Israeli government officials from a major weapons show in Paris, and had imposed restrictions on companies from the country exhibiting there.

France's defense ministry — which barred Israel from taking part in the 2024 Eurosatory arms exhibition over the war ‌in Gaza — ‌later said Israeli companies would ‌be ⁠limited to showing equipment ⁠and materials related to air defense and missile defense, but did not go into any detail on the reasons.

It did not address the report that Israeli officials would not be allowed to attend.

"This is a disgraceful decision, ⁠one that reeks of political and ‌commercial calculation, and ‌regrettably, it comes as no surprise," the Israeli defense ministry ‌spokesperson said.

"It fits a deeply troubling ‌pattern in French conduct in recent years — a pattern that has consistently placed France on the wrong side of history."

Israeli-French relations have deteriorated since late 2023, with ‌Paris criticizing Israel's conduct in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and ⁠the ⁠decision by Israel and the United States to launch a war against Iran earlier this year.

Israel's right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also protested at President Emmanuel Macron's decision last year to recognize Palestinian statehood.

More than 2,600 exhibitors are due to take part in this year's Eurosatory — one of the world's largest weapons shows — which begins on June 15, according to its website.


Trump Says He Has Not Heard from Iran That They Are Suspending Talks

 President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
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Trump Says He Has Not Heard from Iran That They Are Suspending Talks

 President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP)

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had not heard from Iranians that they were suspending talks with the Washington, but added that silence would be fine and he was willing to wait.

"I think we've ‌been talking ‌too much if you ‌want ⁠to know the truth. ⁠I think going silent would be very good, and that could be for a long time," Trump said in an interview with NBC News.

"It ⁠doesn't mean we're going ‌to go ‌and start dropping bombs all over there," ‌Trump was quoted as saying. "We'll ‌just go silent. We'll keep the blockade."

"I think I can wait as long as they want. They're ‌losing a fortune."

The Iranian state news agency Tasnim reported earlier ⁠that Iran ⁠was halting indirect negotiations with the US after Israel ordered its troops to push deeper into Lebanon, complicating diplomatic efforts to end three months of war.

Trump said the Iranians were better negotiators than fighters, but that he had not been informed that they were suspending talks.


Türkiye’s Erdogan Distances Govt from Main Opposition Crisis, Warns Against Unrest

30 October 2025, Türkiye, Ankara: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye, speaks at the press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after talks at the presidential palace. (dpa)
30 October 2025, Türkiye, Ankara: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye, speaks at the press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after talks at the presidential palace. (dpa)
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Türkiye’s Erdogan Distances Govt from Main Opposition Crisis, Warns Against Unrest

30 October 2025, Türkiye, Ankara: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye, speaks at the press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after talks at the presidential palace. (dpa)
30 October 2025, Türkiye, Ankara: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye, speaks at the press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after talks at the presidential palace. (dpa)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the government would not be drawn into disputes within Türkiye's main opposition CHP and would not allow unrest on the streets, in ‌his first ‌public comments ‌since ⁠a court ruling last ⁠month annulled the party's 2023 congress and removed its leadership.

The court ruling effectively reinstated former CHP ⁠chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a divisive ‌figure ‌within the party who ‌lost a presidential election ‌to Erdogan in 2023.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan said ‌the government had no part in a ⁠political ⁠and legal struggle that had "spilled from party congress halls into court corridors" and would not allow "the streets to be thrown into turmoil" or the public to be pitted against security forces.