Tensions between the US and Iran continue to escalate after the killing of the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force Qassem Soleimani on Friday last week.
Calls for revenge continue to grow as hundreds of thousands of people gather in Iranian capital to pay respects to Soleimani. The funeral processions to honour Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian military commander who was assassinated last week in an air raid by the United States in Baghdad, are underway in Iran.
The head of Iran’s elite Quds Force Qassem Soleimani, was killed alongside with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi), an Iran-backed umbrella organisation comprising several militias. Several other people were also killed in the US Friday’s attack.
The raid by US has drawn condemnation from leaders and officials who fear that tensions in the region could escalate drastically.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei has warned that “a harsh retaliation is waiting”. On Saturday, US President Donald Trump threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites “very hard” if Iran attacked US citizens or assets.
Monday, January 6, 2020, Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out in the capital to pay their final respects to Soleimani, as the multi-city ceremony for the slain commander continued in Iran.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers at the Tehran funeral, weeping at one point during the traditional Muslim prayers for the dead.
The New Quds Force chief says he aims to remove US from region. Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the new commander of Quds Force, says he will expel the US from the region in the wake of Soleimani’s killing.
We promise to continue martyr Soleimani’s path with the same force and the only compensation for us would be to remove America from the region,” Qaani was quoted as saying by state radio.
