This archive report was first published on 7 January 2020.
On Tuesday, January 7, 2020, thousands of Iranians gathered in Kerman for the burial of top general Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq on Friday, January 3, 2020.
The massive turnout in the hometown of the slain commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force foreign operations arm matched the huge crowds seen in the cities of Tehran, Qom, Mashhad, and Ahvaz.
Major General Hossein Salami, the Revolutionary Guards' top general, eulogized Soleimani, saying, "The martyr Qasem Soleimani is more powerful... now that he is dead."
"The enemy killed him unjustly," he told the sea of black-clad mourners.
As the funeral procession made its way through the streets, schoolgirls joined chants of "Death to Trump" from the crowd, an AFP correspondent reported.
The assassination of Soleimani set off an escalating war of words between Iran and the United States, with President Hassan Rouhani warning US President Donald Trump to "never threaten" Iran.
On Monday, January 6, 2020, Rouhani issued a stern warning to Trump after the US leader issued a US strike list of 52 targets in the Islamic republic.
"We're here today to pay respects to the great commander of the holy defence," said one of the mourners who came from the southern city of Shiraz to attend the funeral in Kerman.
"Haj Qasem was not only loved in Kerman, or Iran, but also the whole world," Hemmat Dehghan told AFP.
"The security of the whole world, Muslims, Shiites, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and especially Iran, all owe it to him," said the 56-year-old war veteran.
