Iran Guard leader threatens to 'set ablaze' US-backed places
TEHRAN, IRAN - JANUARY 06: (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY MANDATORY CREDIT - "IRANIAN LEADER PRESS OFFICE / HANDOUT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (right 4), ((Photo by Iranian Leader Press Office / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images))
TEHRAN, Iran - The leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard has threatened to "set ablaze" places supported by the U.S. over the killing of a top Iranian general, sparking cries from the crowd of "Death to Israel!"
Hossein Salami made the comments on Tuesday in the city of Kerman in front of a casket bearing the remains of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Soleimani will be buried later Tuesday in his hometown in southeastern Iran.
His killing Friday in Baghdad has drastically raised regional tensions.
Thousands of mourners prepared Tuesday to bury a top Iranian general killed by a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, demanding retaliation against America for a slaying that's drastically raised tensions across the Middle East.
Mourners in Kerman dressed in black carried posters bearing the image of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a man who Monday drew Iran's supreme leader to weep over his casket as a crowd said by police to be in the millions filled Tehran. Although there was no independent estimate, aerial footage and Associated Press journalists suggested a turnout of at least 1 million, and the throngs were visible on satellite images of Tehran taken Monday.
Authorities later brought his remains and those of the others to Iran's holy city of Qom, turning out another massive crowd.
The outpouring of grief was an unprecedented honor for a man viewed by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guard's expeditionary Quds Force. The U.S. 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 at Baghdad's airport. Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President Bashar Assad in a long war, as well as 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. 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.
Officials brought Soleimani's remains and others killed in the airstrike to a central square in the city of Kerman, a desert city surrounded by mountains that dates back to the days of the Silk Road. He'll be buried in his hometown late Tuesday.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.