This archive report was first published on 7 January 2020.
On January 7, 2020, a stampede broke out at the funeral of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in the southeastern city of Kerman, leaving over 30 people dead and 190 injured.
The funeral was held for Soleimani, a top Iranian general killed in a US drone strike, and was attended by huge crowds of mourners.
"Unfortunately, because of overcrowding, 32 of our citizens lost their lives in the procession... and 190 were injured," said Pirhossein Koolivand, the head of Iran's emergency services, in a statement to state television.
The injured were immediately transferred to hospital, and the streets were packed with mourners, with others taking refuge on hillsides around the city.
The assassination of Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force foreign operations arm, had set off an escalating war of words between Iran and the United States.
Iranian lawmakers voted to designate all US forces around the world as 'terrorists' over Soleimani's killing, and parliament also agreed to bolster the coffers of the Quds Force by $244 million.
As the funeral procession made its way through the city, mourners chanted 'Death to Trump' and 'Death to America,' with schoolgirls joining in the chants.
