Iran crowds mourns assassinated general Qassem Soleimani

Iran’s supreme leader has wept over the casket of Qassem Soleimani as mourners flooded Tehran’s streets.

Iran’s supreme leader has wept over the casket of his top general Qassem Soleimani, his prayers joining the wails of mourners who flooded the streets of Tehran demanding retaliation.

Monday’s funeral for the Revolutionary Guard leader, killed in a US air strike, drew a crowd in the millions, who filled 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, turning out another massive crowd.

General Soleimani is viewed as a national hero for his work leading the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, while 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.

Mourners surround a truck carrying the flag draped coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his comrades in the holy city of Qom. Picture: AP.

Gen. Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President Bashar Assad. His assassination 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. Gen. Soleimani’s daughter, Zeinab, directly threatened the US military in the Middle East while also warning Donald Trump, whom she derided as “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 American flag tweet following Soleimani’s killing turn into a coffin, the “likes” of the tweet replaced by over 143,000 “killed”.

Gen. Esmail Ghaani, newly appointed commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, weeps while praying over his predecessor’s coffin. Picture: AP.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed over the caskets of Gen. 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 Gen. 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.

Gen. Soleimani will be buried Tuesday in his hometown of Kerman.

His successor, Esmail Ghaani, stood near Ayatollah Khamenei’s side as did President Hassan Rouhani and other leaders of the Islamic Republic.

Demonstrators burned Israeli and US flags, carried a flag-draped US coffin or displayed effigies of Trump. Some described him as a legitimate target. Ghaani made his own threat on Iranian state television.

“God the Almighty has promised to get his revenge and God is the main avenger. Certainly actions will be taken,” he said.

AP