Stampede at funeral of Qassem Soleimani crushes 32, injures 190

A stampede erupted on Tuesday at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general killed in a US airstrike last week, killing 32.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, centre, flanked by Hassan Rouhani, left, and Ebrahim Raisi and Esmail Qaani, right, at Monday’s Tehran funeral. Picture: AFP

A stampede erupted on Tuesday at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general killed in a US airstrike last week, killing 32 people and injuring 190 others, Iran’s state television reported.

According to the report, the stampede took place in Kerman, the home town of Qassem Soleimani, as the procession got underway. There was no information as to what had set it off.

Initial videos posted online showed people lying lifeless on a road and others shouting and trying to help them.

The burial was later delayed but no new timing was given. Iranian state TV gave the casualty toll in its online report, citing Pirhossein Koulivand, the head of Iran’s emergency medical services. “Unfortunately as a result of the stampede, some of our compatriots have been injured and some have been killed during the funeral processions,” he said.

In delaying Soleimani’s burial, authorities cited concerns about the massive crowd that had gathered, the semi-official ISNA news agency said.

On Monday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wept over the casket of Soleimani, his prayers joining the wails of mourners who flooded the streets of Tehran demanding retaliation.

The funeral for Soleimani drew a crowd said by police to be in the millions in the Iranian capital, filling thoroughfares and side streets as far as the eye could see.

Although there was no independent estimate, aerial footage suggested a turnout of at least a million, with the throngs visible on satellite images.

Authorities later brought his remains and those of the others to Iran’s holy city of Qom, drawing another massive crowd.

The outpouring of grief was an unprecedented honour for a man viewed as a national hero for his work leading the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force. The US blames him for the killing of American troops in Iraq and accuses him of plotting new attacks just before his death on Friday in a drone strike at Baghdad’s airport.

General Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President ­Bashar al-Assad in a long war. His slaying already has pushed ­Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as his successor and others vow to take revenge. In Baghdad, the parliament has called for the expulsion of American troops, something ­analysts fear could allow Islamic State militants to mount a comeback.

General Soleimani’s daughter, Zeinab, directly threatened the US military in the Middle East while also warning President ­Donald Trump, whom she called “crazy”. “The families of the American soldiers … will spend their days waiting for the death of their children,” she said to cheers.

Her language mirrored warnings by other Iranian officials who say an attack on US military interests in the Middle East looms.

Iranian state TV and others online shared a video showing Mr Trump’s US flag tweet following General Soleimani’s killing turn into a coffin, the “likes” of the tweet replaced by more than 143,000 “killed”.

Ayatollah Khamenei prayed over the caskets of General Soleimani and others at Tehran University after a brief mourning at the capital’s Musalla mosque.

The mosque was also where prayers were said over the body of ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, after his death in 1989.

Ayatollah Khamenei, who had a close relationship with General Soleimani and referred to him as a “living martyr”, broke down in tears four times while offering Muslim prayers for the dead.

“Oh God, you took their spirits out of their bodies as they were rolling in their blood for you and were martyred in your way,” he said as the crowd wailed.

Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, said “resistance against America” would continue.

General Soleimani will be buried late on Tuesday in his home town of Kerman.

His successor, Esmail Qaani, stood near Ayatollah Khamenei’s side as did President Hassan Rouhani, judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi and other leaders.

Demonstrators burned Israeli and US flags, carried a flag-draped US coffin or displayed effigies of Mr Trump. Some described him as a legitimate target.

AP