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Politics

Soleimani funeral: Daughter warns of 'dark day' for US

January 6, 2020

Huge crowds gathered in the Iranian capital Tehran for the funeral of General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by US airstrikes. His daughter issued a threat to US soldiers in the Middle East.

Funeral of General Soleimani in Tehran
Image: AFP

Hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on Monday, three days after he was killed by US airstrikes in Iraq.

"The families of US soldiers in the Middle East will spend their days waiting for the death of their children," said Zainab Soleimani, daughter of the slain general, on state TV.

"Crazy Trump, don't think that everything is over with my father's martyrdom," she added. She warned that the US and their ally Israel faced a "dark day" in response to his death.

Read more: US and Iran: Decades of enmity

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni led prayers in the funeral, at one point bursting into tears over Soleimani's coffin. He was flanked by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Soleimani's replacement as Quds commander, Esmail Qaani.

'Death to America!'

"We promise to continue martyr Soleimani's path with the same force [...] and the only compensation for us would be to remove America from the region," Qaani told state radio ahead of the funeral.

Assembled crowds yelled "Death to America!" and "Revenge! Revenge!" according to state TV. Soleimani's coffin was passed across the heads of the assembled crowd.

Read more: Opinion: Trump's Pyrrhic victory

Iranian state TV put the crowd numbers at "millions," although external source could not verify this.

Soleimani's remains were flown in to the capital for the prayers and official ceremony at Masumeh shrine, ahead of a smaller funeral on Tuesday in his hometown of Kerman.

Comparison of US and Iran defense spending

Escalating crisis

Iran's goal of removing US troops from the region was given backing by Iraq after they voted on Sunday to oust US troops from their country.

On Monday, Germany, France and the UK urged a de-escalation of tensions between Iran and the US in order to end the cycle of violence.

Mourners for Soleimani walk through smoke in TehranImage: Reuters/WANA/N. Tabatabaee

ed/rt (AFP, AP, Reuters)

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