This archive report was first published on 7 January 2020.
On January 7, 2020, thousands of mourners gathered in Kerman, Iran, to bid farewell to Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, who was killed on Friday.
As the general's body was taken for burial, the leader of the paramilitary group, Hossein Salami, vowed to 'set ablaze' places where Americans and their allies live, in a fiery speech made moments before the burial.
'We will take revenge; a revenge that will be tough, strong, decisive and finishing and will make them regret,' Salami said, according to Fars, an Iranian news agency associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The pledge to seek vengeance echoed the rhetoric of many of the country's leaders since General Suleimani's killing, with the crowd chanting 'Death to Israel' in response to Salami's speech.
