Hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded the streets of Tehran on Monday to welcome back the body of the slain Iranian top military commander Qasem Soleimani
TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th January, 2020) Hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded the streets of Tehran on Monday to welcome back the body of the slain Iranian top military commander Qasem Soleimani.
The nationwide outpouring of grief followed the killing of the renowned commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force in a US drone strike in neighboring Iraq in the early hours of Friday.
Soleimani was more than a top Iranian officer. He held the hero status among Shiite Muslims and is credited for spearheading Iran's overseas operations, including the fight against the Sunni Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia).
Iranian leaders vowed to avenge the US "crime." Iran pulled completely from the 2015 nuclear deal on Sunday and threatened to attack US forces within its strike range. Washington warned that it would retaliate.
The coffin with Soleimani's body was flown to the Iranian city of Ahvaz from Iraq on Sunday before being brought to the capital on Monday. The fallen general will be interred in his home city of Kerman on Tuesday.
Black-clad mourners thronged the central streets of Tehran from early morning to pay respects to the man who has been declared a "martyr," with a vast crowd packing the Revolution Square during the funeral procession.
People were seen carrying black mourning flags and red banners symbolizing the desire to seek revenge for his martyrdom and carry on his legacy.
Iran's spiritual leader Ali Khamenei, who commands the Islamic Guards force, led the prayers during the funeral ceremony. He was seen weeping as he bid farewell to the 62-year-old general.
Loudspeakers at the square droned with funeral verses and anti-US slogans that were echoed by the crowd below. Thousands were chanting "death to America, death to Israel" and vowed revenge.
Iran announced as early as Friday that it knew how it wanted to avenge the death of Soleimani but kept details to itself.
Hossein Dehghan, a senior military adviser to Khamenei, told CNN that US military sites would be target in a tit-for-tat response. The United States operates hundreds of military facilities abroad.
US President Donald has accused Soleimani of plotting to murder US personnel in the region, saying his killing was designed to avert a war. But he also warned that Iran's retaliation would cause the US military to respond, "perhaps in a disproportionate manner."
Trump said the United States had designated 52 targets in Iran, some of them of cultural importance, which would be "hit very fast and very hard." Attacks on cultural sites are considered war crimes under international laws.
