Iranians in their thousands on Monday trooped out for the funeral of Gen Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, a few days after he was assassinated by a U.S backed airstrike.
The funeral which is one of the biggest in the history of Iran, as the last time they witness such a mammoth crowd for a funeral was in 1989, which was the funeral of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The event also saw the daughter to Gen Qassem Soleimani, Zeinab Soleimani calling out President Trump, wherein a state address she said:
“Crazy Trump, don’t think that everything is over with my father’s martyrdom.” She also promised darker days ahead, as Iran seeks revenge.
U.S. President Donald Trump had ordered Friday’s attack that killed the Gen Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s drive to extend its influence across the region. Iran has promised to avenge his death.
The coffins of Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was also killed in the strike, were passed across the heads of mourners chanting “Death to America”.
Aerial footage showed crowds packed thoroughfares and side streets in central Tehran, a welcome show of national unity for the government after deadly protests in November.
Prayers at Soleimani’s funeral in Tehran, which will later move to his southern home city of Kerman, were led by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wept as he spoke. Soleimani was widely seen as the second most powerful figure in Iran behind Khamenei.
The world, especially Americans await Iran’s threat of a ‘harsh revenge’, which most people feel would come immediately after Gen Qassem Soleimani’s funeral. The revenge would happen, but how and where, is not known, as Tehran hopes to restore the ‘dignity’ of one of the most powerful generals they ever produced.
The United States are also closing monitoring every movement inside of Iran and Iraq, as Trump already threatened to attack 52 targets inside Iran should they go ahead with their ‘harsh revenge’.