A stampede yesterday erupted at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general killed in a US airstrike last week, killing at least 40 people and injuring 213, state TV reported.
The stampede took place in Kerman, the hometown of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) major general Qassem Soleimani, as the procession got under way. Initial videos posted online showed people lying lifeless on a road and others shouting and trying to help them.
State TV provided the casualty toll in its online report, citing Pirhossein Koulivand, head of the Iranian National Emergency Medical Organization.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“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.
Authorities later delayed Soleimani’s burial, citing concerns about the massive crowd that had gathered, the semi-official Iranian Student News Agency said.
A procession in Tehran on Monday drew more than 1 million people, who crowded main thoroughfares and side streets.
Soleimani’s death has sparked calls across Iran for revenge against the US for a slaying in a drone strike on Friday last week that has drastically raised tensions across the Middle East.
Earlier yesterday before thousands of people gathered in Kerman, IRGC chief commander Major General Hossein Salami said: “We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like,” drawing cries of “Death to Israel.”
The outpouring of grief was an unprecedented honor for Soleimani, who was viewed by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the IRGC’s Quds Force.
Salami praised Soleimani’s exploits, describing him as essential to backing Palestinian groups, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.
As a martyr, Soleimani represented an even greater threat to Iran’s enemies, Salami said.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency yesterday reported that Iran has drawn up 13 sets of plans to avenge Soleimani’s killing.
It quoted Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani as saying that even the weakest would be a “historic nightmare” for the US.
“If the US troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their bodies horizontally out,” Shamkhani said.
The US Maritime Administration warned ships across the Middle East, citing rising threats.
“The Iranian response to this action, if any, is unknown, but there remains the possibility of Iranian action against US maritime interests in the region,” it said.
Oil tankers were targeted in mine attacks last year that the US blamed on Iran. Tehran denied being responsible, although it did seize oil tankers near the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of the world’s crude oil travels.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Consultative Assembly passed an emergency bill declaring the Pentagon and those acting on its behalf in Soleimani’s killing as “terrorists” subject to Iranian sanctions.
The measure appears to be an attempt to mirror a decision by US President Donald Trump in April last year to declare the IRGC a “terrorist organization.”
The US Department of Defense used the designation as justification for the strike that killed Soleimani.
The vote also saw lawmakers approve an additional 200 million euros (US$223.6 million) in funding for the Quds Force.
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