Thousands in Iran mourn slain general Qasem Soleimani, chanting ‘Death to America’

Body arrived in Iran on Sunday after the general was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad on Friday

US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb 52 sites in Iran if it retaliates by attacking Americans

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Mourners attend a funeral ceremony for General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq in a US drone strike, in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, Iran. Photo: AP

Published: 4:56pm, 5 Jan 2020Updated: 1:56pm, 8 Jan 2020

Tens of thousands of mourners accompanied a casket carrying the remains of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani through two major on Sunday as part of a grand funeral procession across the Islamic Republic for the commander killed by an American drone strike amid soaring tensions between Iran and the US.

“Death to America,” they chanted at a mass gathering in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, where Soleimani’s remains arrived from Iraq before dawn, according to semi-official news agency ISNA.

Packing the streets as Shiite chants resonated in the air, mourners held up portraits of Soleimani, seen as a hero of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and for spearheading Iran’s Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force.

An aerial view shows mourners attending a funeral procession for General Qassem Soleimani and others who were killed in a US drone strike in Iraq. Photo: AP

Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike on Friday near Baghdad international airport, shocking the Islamic republic. He was 62.

The air strike was ordered by US President Donald Trump, who said the Iranian general had been planning an “imminent” attack on US diplomats and the roughly 5,200 American troops deployed in Baghdad.

Soleimani’s assassination ratcheted up tensions between the arch-enemies and sparked fears of a new war in the Middle East.