KARACHI, Pakistan/BAGHDAD, March 1 (Reuters) - At least nine protesters were killed when crowds breached the outer wall of the U.S. consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi, following news of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iraqi police fired tear gas and stun grenades to scatter hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters also gathered outside the Green Zone in the capital Baghdad, where the U.S. Embassy is located.

"Death to Israel, death to America," the protesters shouted.

March 1 (Reuters) - Airlines continued to cancel flights across the Middle East on Sunday as much of the region’s airspace remained closed a day after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and plunging the region into a new conflict.

Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar remained virtually empty, maps by flight-tracking service Flightradar24 showed, andair strikes kept major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, shut orseverely restricted.

Pro-Iranian protesters angered by the death of Iran supreme leader Ali Khamenei tried to storm the US consulate in Pakistan's Karachi on Sunday, leaving eight dead, and the fortified Green Zone hosting Washington's embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Iranian state media confirmed the death of Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader since 1989 and sworn enemy of the West, on Sunday, after the opening salvo of a massive US and Israeli attack.

In the Pakistani megacity of Karachi, hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters tried to enter the US mission, an AFP journalist saw.

The United States said Sunday it had destroyed the headquarters of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard force but also announced the first US fatalities in the war to overturn the Iranian government.

US Central Command, or CENTCOM, announced the Guard headquarters destruction in a statement on X accompanied by video of missiles blasting from a US Navy ship, then pulverizing an urban compound.

"America has the most powerful military on earth, and the IRGC no longer has a headquarters," CENTCOM said.

Drones and missiles hit oil facilities and US diplomatic missions in the Gulf on Tuesday as Iran retaliated to fresh strikes.

Here are the latest developments:

- Israel says hit covert nuclear site in Iran -

The Israeli military announced that it struck an underground nuclear site in Iran where it said scientists were "covertly" developing a key component for nuclear weapons.

By Ahmed Elimam

March 1 (Reuters) - Veteran Iranian politician Ali Larijani, who said on Sunday a temporary leadership council would be set up after an air strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reemerged last year as one of the most powerful figures in the security hierarchy.

He has been managing a broad portfolio from nuclear negotiations to Tehran’s regional ties to its violent suppression of internal unrest.

It's 3:30 am and lights are slowly coming on in the homes lining a narrow Istanbul street as people are woken up by the rhythmic thump of a drum.

Emerging onto a balcony, Sibel Savas and her grandson look down as the drummer -- or davulcu in Turkish -- wanders through the Ayvansaray neighbourhood, his drumbeat waking the faithful for a last meal before the daily Ramadan fast begins at sunrise.

Cheers and mourning in Iran. Euphoric celebrations against the Iranian regime and angry protests against the war. Uncertainty about what comes next.

The world greeted with jubilation, anger or trepidation the news Sunday that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in the US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic one day earlier.

- Music in Tehran -

Iranians took to the streets cheering with joy, setting off fireworks and playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei's death, according to witnesses and video footage verified by AFP.

By Maha El Dahan and Andrew Mills

DUBAI, March 1 (Reuters) - Loud blasts were heard in Dubai and the Qatari capital Doha for the second day on Sunday, witnesses said, as Iran's retaliatory strikes on neighbouring Gulf states in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic widened.

Iran had said it would target U.S. bases in the region but it has hit a range of other targets across Gulf cities.

Two people were injured in Dubai after shrapnel from drones fell over two houses when they were intercepted, aDubai Media office statement said.

March 1 (Reuters) - The United States will hit Iran "with a force that has never been seen before," U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday, should the Middle East nation retaliate for U.S. strikes.

"Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever been hit before," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

He added, "THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!"

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)