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| Iranian people attend the funeral procession and burial for Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimaniin Kerman, Iran January 7, 2020. Mehdi Bolourian/Fars News Agency/WANA |
Dozens of people were killed in a stampede as mourners packed streets for the funeral of a slain Iranian military commander in his hometown on Tuesday, forcing his burial to be postponed, state-affiliated media reported.
Tens of thousands of people had gathered in the southeastern city of Kerman to pay tribute to General Qassem Soleimani, whose killing in a US drone strike in Iraq on Friday plunged the region into a new crisis and raised fears of a broader conflict.
A senior Iranian official said Tehran was considering several scenarios to avenge his killing. Other senior figures have said Iran will match the scale of Soleimaniโs killing when it responds but that it will choose the time and place.
Tuesdayโs stampede broke out amid the crush of mourners, killing at least 40 people and injuring about 213, an emergency services official told the semi-official Fars news agency.
Iranโs ISNA news agency said the burial of Soleimani had been postponed, but did not say how long any delay would last.
โToday because of the heavy congestion of the crowd unfortunately a number of our fellow citizens who were mourning were injured and a number were killed,โ emergency medical services chief Pirhossein Kolivand told state television.
The body of Soleimani, a national hero whose death has united many Iranians, had been taken to Iraqi and Iranian cities before arriving in Kerman for burial.
In each place, huge numbers of people filled thoroughfares, chanting โDeath to Americaโ and weeping with emotion. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shed tears when leading prayers in Tehran.
Soleimani, who commanded the elite Quds Force, was responsible for building up Tehranโs network of proxy armies across the Middle East. He was a key figure in orchestrating Iranโs long-standing campaign to drive US forces out of Iraq.
REVENGE
The US defence secretary denied reports the American military was preparing to withdraw from Iraq, where Tehran has vied with Washington for influence since the 2003 US invasion.
โWe will take revenge, a hard and definitive revenge,โ the head of Iranโs Revolutionary Guards, General Hossein Salami, told the crowds in Kerman before the stampede.
Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said 13 โrevenge scenariosโ were being considered, Fars news agency reported. Even the weakest option would prove โa historic nightmare for the Americans,โ he said.
Iran, whose coastline runs along a Gulf oil shipping route that includes the narrow Strait of Hormuz, has allied forces across the Middle East through which it can act. Representatives from those groups, including the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanonโs Hezbollah movement, attended funeral events in Tehran.
Despite its strident rhetoric, analysts say Iran will want to avoid any conventional conflict with the United States and will likely focus on asymmetric strikes, such as sabotage or other military action via proxies.
Trump has promised to target 52 Iranian sites if Iran retaliates.
Reuters and other media reported on Monday that the US military had sent a letter to Iraqi officials informing them that US troops were preparing to leave.
โIn order to conduct this task, Coalition Forces are required to take certain measures to ensure that the movement out of Iraq is conducted in a safe and efficient manner,โ it said.
But US Defence Secretary Mark Esper denied there had been any decision to leave. โI donโt know what that letter is,โ he said.
FRICTION
US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the letter was a โpoorly wordedโ draft document meant only to underscore increased movement by US forces.
About 5,000 US troops are still in Iraq, where there has been a US military presence since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.
Iraqโs parliament, dominated by lawmakers representing Muslim Shiโite groups who have been united by Fridayโs killing of Soleimani alongside an Iraqi militia leader, passed a resolution on Sunday calling for all foreign troops to leave the country.
Iraqโs caretaker Prime Minister Abdel Abdul Mahdi told the US ambassador to Baghdad the two sides needed to implement the resolution.
Friction between Iran and the United States has risen since Washington withdrew in 2018 from a nuclear deal between Tehran and other world powers.
The United States has imposed economic sanctions on Iran, slashing Iranian oil exports, and Tehran said on Sunday it was dropping limitations on uranium enrichment, in its latest step back from commitments to the deal.
Washington denied a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to allow him to attend a UN Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday, a US official said.
Trumpโs US political rivals have challenged his decision to order the killing of Soleimani and questioned its timing in a US election year. His administration said Soleimani was planning new attacks on US interests without giving evidence.
US general Milley said the threat from Soleimani was imminent. โWe would have been culpably negligent to the American people had we not made the decision we made,โ he said.
Trump administration officials will provide a classified briefing for US senators on Wednesday on events in Iraq after some lawmakers accused the White House of risking a broad conflict without a strategy.
REUTERS
