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| Iranians flock to Suleimani's home town for burial | Iranians flock to Suleimani's home town for burial |
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| Huge number of mourners of general killed in US strike appears to match turnout in Tehran | Huge number of mourners of general killed in US strike appears to match turnout in Tehran |
| Iranians have gathered in the south-eastern city of Kerman for the burial of the military commander Qassem Suleimani after four days of funeral processions in cities across Iran and Iraq. | Iranians have gathered in the south-eastern city of Kerman for the burial of the military commander Qassem Suleimani after four days of funeral processions in cities across Iran and Iraq. |
| Hundreds of thousands of mourners filled the streets of Suleimani’s home town on Tuesday morning, appearing to match the huge turnouts in Baghdad, Tehran, Qom, Mashhad and Ahvaz in recent days to say farewell to the commander of the Revolutionary Guards external operations force, who was killed by a US drone strike in Iraq on Friday. | |
| “The martyr Qassem Suleimani is more powerful … now that he is dead,” the Revolutionary Guards’ commander, Maj Gen Hossein Salami, told the sea of black-clad mourners. “The enemy killed him unjustly.” | |
| Mirroring fierce threats of retaliation from across Iran’s leadership since Friday’s assassination, Salami threatened to “set ablaze” American interests in the region, drawing cries of “death to Israel” from the crowd. | Mirroring fierce threats of retaliation from across Iran’s leadership since Friday’s assassination, Salami threatened to “set ablaze” American interests in the region, drawing cries of “death to Israel” from the crowd. |
| People converged from across the region on Kerman’s Azadi Square, where two flag-draped coffins were on display, with the second reportedly containing the remains of Suleimani’s closest aide, Brig Gen Hossein Pourjafari. | |
| “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. | “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 Qassem was not only loved in Kerman, or Iran, but also the whole world,” Hemmat Dehghan said. “The security of the whole world – Muslims, Shiites, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and especially Iran – all owe it to him,” the 56-year-old war veteran said. | |
| Suleimani was killed outside Baghdad airport on Friday morning in a drone strike ordered by the US president, Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions with arch-enemy Iran, which has vowed “severe revenge”. | |
| The White House on Tuesday denied a visa to Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, preventing him from attending a UN security council meeting in New York scheduled for Thursday. | The White House on Tuesday denied a visa to Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, preventing him from attending a UN security council meeting in New York scheduled for Thursday. |
| “They fear that someone comes to the US and reveals realities,” Zarif said from Tehran. | “They fear that someone comes to the US and reveals realities,” Zarif said from Tehran. |
| The visa ban breaches a 1947 UN “headquarters agreement” under which the US is generally required to give foreign diplomats access to the country, even if they are restricted to the area around the site of the international organisation. | The visa ban breaches a 1947 UN “headquarters agreement” under which the US is generally required to give foreign diplomats access to the country, even if they are restricted to the area around the site of the international organisation. |
| Zarif has been subject to such restrictions in the past but Washington says it can deny visas outright for “security, terrorism and foreign policy” reasons. | Zarif has been subject to such restrictions in the past but Washington says it can deny visas outright for “security, terrorism and foreign policy” reasons. |
| The assassination of Suleimani, 62, heightened international concern about a new war in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East and rattled financial markets. | The assassination of Suleimani, 62, heightened international concern about a new war in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East and rattled financial markets. |
| Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday that the country’s leaders had worked up 13 sets of plans to revenge the killing. The report quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, saying that even the weakest among the reprisals would be a “historic nightmare” for the US. He declined to give details. | |
| “If the US troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their bodies horizontally out,” Shamkhani said. | “If the US troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their bodies horizontally out,” Shamkhani said. |
| An urgent bill was meanwhile passed by Iran’s parliament declaring the US military’s command at the Pentagon in Washington and those acting on its behalf to be “terrorists”, subject to Iranian sanctions. The measure appears to mirror Trump’s decision in April to classify the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organisation. | An urgent bill was meanwhile passed by Iran’s parliament declaring the US military’s command at the Pentagon in Washington and those acting on its behalf to be “terrorists”, subject to Iranian sanctions. The measure appears to mirror Trump’s decision in April to classify the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organisation. |
| Iraq’s parliament has demanded the government expel the 5,200 American troops stationed in the country in response to the attack, which also killed the top Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. | |
| The US has scrambled to respond to the Iraqi order, delivering a letter to the country’s defence ministry on Monday saying preparations would begin immediately “to ensure that movement out of Iraq is conducted in a safe and efficient manner”. | |
| Shortly afterwards, the defence secretary, Mark Esper, told journalists in the Pentagon that the letter “is inconsistent with where we are right now”, and insisted that no decision had been taken to evacuate Iraq. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, said the letter had been sent in error. | |
| The Nato chief, Jens Stoltenberg, warned on Monday that Iran must avoid “further violence and provocations” after the alliance held emergency talks on the crisis. | |
| The European Union, whose foreign ministers will hold emergency talks on the crisis on Friday, said it was in both Iran and Iraq’s interests to “take the path of sobriety and not the path of escalation”. | The European Union, whose foreign ministers will hold emergency talks on the crisis on Friday, said it was in both Iran and Iraq’s interests to “take the path of sobriety and not the path of escalation”. |
| Saudi Arabia – an oil-rich US ally regarded as vulnerable to Iranian counterstrikes – also appealed for calm after a “very dangerous” escalation. | |
| Suleimani is expected to be buried at the martyrs’ cemetery between 2pm and 4pm (10.30 to 12.30 GMT). |