Stampede at Iran general’s funeral leaves over 30 dead
KERMAN, Iran: A stampede broke out Tuesday at the funeral of a top Iranian general killed in a US drone strike, leaving more than 30 people dead as huge crowds of mourners packed his hometown.
The crush in the southeastern city of Kerman came as Iran prepared to bury Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, a hugely popular figure in the Islamic republic.
“Unfortunately due to extraordinary overcrowding more than 30 people have lost their lives and dozens of others have been injured,” state television reported.
Soleimani, the head of the Guards’ Quds Force foreign operations arm, was assassinated on Friday in a US strike near Baghdad international airport, an operation that shocked Iran.
Tuesday’s funeral comes after days of processions through the streets of Ahvaz in southwestern Ian, the capital Tehran, the holy city of Qom and far northwestern city of Mashhad.
The assassination of Soleimani set off an escalating war of words between Iran and the United States.
On Tuesday, Iranian lawmakers voted to designate all US forces around the world “terrorists” over Soleimani’s killing.
Parliament also agreed to bolster the coffers of the Quds Force, which Soleimani led, by US$244 million (200 million euros).
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg warned on Monday that Iran must avoid “further violence and provocations”.
The European Union, whose foreign ministers will hold emergency talks on the crisis Friday, said it was in both Iran and Iraq’s interests to “take the path of sobriety and not the path of escalation”. — AFP