This archive report was first published on 6 January 2020.
On January 6, 2020, a massive crowd gathered in Tehran to pay their respects to Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian military commander who was assassinated in a US drone strike in Iraq on January 3, 2020.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, led prayers and was seen weeping during the ceremony.
Iran has vowed severe revenge for Soleimani's death and has pulled back from the 2015 nuclear accord.
President Donald Trump had ordered the drone strike that killed Soleimani, who was 62 years old and had spearheaded Iranian military operations in the Middle East.
Trump described Soleimani as 'plotting imminent and sinister attacks' on US diplomats and military personnel in Iraq and elsewhere in the region.
State television showed large crowds in Tehran, with people crying and holding pictures of the late commander. 'Death to America' chants were heard.
Zeinab Soleimani, the commander's daughter, warned the US that it faces a 'dark day' for the killing.
Following the funeral, Soleimani's remains will be taken to Qom, a centre of Shia Islam, for a ceremony ahead of a funeral in his hometown of Kerman on January 7, 2020.
