Dubai/Baghdad - 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 U.S. 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 Soleimani's killing when
it responds but that it will choose the time and place.
Tuesday's 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.
Iran's ISNA news agency said the burial of Soleimani had
been postponed, but did not say how long any delay would last.
In this frame grab from video posted online, people try to resuscitate victims of a deadly stampede at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general. Picture: AP
"Today 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," 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 "Death to America" 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 Tehran's network of proxy armies
across the Middle East. He was a key figure in orchestrating
Iran's long-standing campaign to drive U.S. forces out of Iraq.
REVENGE
The U.S. defense secretary denied reports the American
military was preparing to withdraw from Iraq, where Tehran has
vied with Washington for influence since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
"We will take revenge, a hard and definitive revenge," the
head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, General Hossein Salami,
told the crowds in Kerman before the stampede.
Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security
Council, said 13 "revenge scenarios" were being considered, Fars
news agency reported. Even the weakest option would prove "a
historic nightmare for the Americans," he said.
In this frame grab from video posted online, people try to resuscitate victims of a deadly stampede at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general. Picture: AP
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
Lebanon's 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 U.S.
military had sent a letter to Iraqi officials informing them
that U.S. troops were preparing to leave.
"In 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," it
said.
But U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper denied there had been
any decision to leave. "I don't know what that letter is," he
said.
FRICTION
U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, said the letter was a "poorly worded" draft document
meant only to underscore increased movement by U.S. forces.
About 5,000 U.S. troops are still in Iraq, where there has
been a U.S. military presence since Saddam Hussein was toppled
in 2003.
Iraq's parliament, dominated by lawmakers representing
Muslim Shi'ite groups who have been united by Friday's killing
of Soleimani alongside an Iraqi militia leader, passed a
resolution on Sunday calling for all foreign troops to leave the
country.
Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister Abdel Abdul Mahdi told the
U.S. 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 U.N. Security
Council meeting in New York on Thursday, a U.S. official said.
Trump's U.S. political rivals have challenged his decision
to order the killing of Soleimani and questioned its timing in a
U.S. election year. His administration said Soleimani was
planning new attacks on U.S. interests without giving evidence.
U.S. general Milley said the threat from Soleimani was
imminent. "We would have been culpably negligent to the American
people had we not made the decision we made," he said.
Trump administration officials will provide a classified
briefing for U.S. senators on Wednesday on events in Iraq after
some lawmakers accused the White House of risking a broad
conflict without a strategy.