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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Sean Morrison

Huge crowds turn out to pay final respects to Qasem Soleimani in hometown ahead of burial

A huge crowd gathers in Kerman, Qasem Soleimani's hometown, ahead of his burial later on Tuesday (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

Huge numbers of mourners have gathered to pay their final respects to Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani ahead of his burial.

His body has arrived in his hometown of Kerman in south-eastern Iran, where he is to be buried on Tuesday morning.

It comes after large crowds turned out for a funeral procession in Tehran and as tensions rose following's Soleimani killing in a US drone strike in Iraq on Friday.

A crowd of thousands gathered in a central square in Kerman, the hometown of the Soleimani. Mourners dressed in black and carried posters bearing the image of the top general.

Mourners gather for the burial of Soleimani in Kerman (AFP via Getty Images)

The outpouring of grief was an unprecedented honour for a man viewed by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guard's expeditionary Quds Force.

The US blames him for the killing of American troops in Iraq and accused him of plotting new attacks just before his death Friday in a drone strike near Baghdad's airport.

Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President Bashar Assad in a long war, and he also served as the point man for Iranian proxies in countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

His slaying already has pushed Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as his successor and others vow to take revenge.

Iranian mourners gather for the burial of slain top general Qasem Soleimani in his hometown Kerman (AFP via Getty Images)

In Baghdad, the parliament has called for the expulsion of all American troops from Iraqi soil, something analysts fear could allow Islamic State militants to mount a comeback.

On Monday, authorities brought Soleimani's remains and those of the others killed in the airstrike to a central square in Kerman, a desert city surrounded by mountains that dates back to the days of the Silk Road.

The leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Hossein Salami praised Soleimani's exploits and said as a martyr he represented an even greater threat to Iran's enemies.

General Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike (AP)

"We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like," Salami said, drawing the cries of "Death to Israel!" Israel is a long-time regional foe of Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran's parliament passed an urgent bill declaring the US military's command at the Pentagon in Washington and those acting on its behalf "terrorists," subject to Iranian sanctions.

The measure appears to mirror a decision by President Donald Trump in April to declare the Revolutionary Guard a "terrorist organization."

The US Defence Department used the Guard's designation as a terror organisation in the US to support the strike that killed Soleimani.

The decision by Iran's parliament, done by a special procedure to speed the bill to law, comes as officials across the country threaten to retaliate for Soleimani's killing.

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