Tens of thousands of Iranians thronged the streets of Tehran
on Monday for the funeral of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani who was
killed in a U.S. air strike last week and his daughter said his death would
bring a "dark day" for the United States.
"Crazy Trump, don't think that everything is over with
my father's martyrdom," Zeinab Soleimani said in her address broadcast on
state television after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered Friday's strike that
killed the top Iranian general.
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Iran has promised to avenge the killing of Soleimani, the
architect of Iran's drive to extend its influence across the region and a
national hero among many Iranians, even many of those who did not consider
themselves devoted supporters of the Islamic Republic's clerical rulers.
The scale of the crowds in Tehran shown on television
mirrored the masses that gathered in 1989 for the funeral of the founder of the
Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
In response to Iran's warnings, Trump has threatened to hit
52 Iranian sites, including cultural targets, if Tehran attacks Americans or
U.S. assets, deepening a crisis that has heightened fears of a major Middle
East conflagration.
The coffins of the Iranian general and Iraqi militia leader
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was also killed in Friday's attack on Baghdad
airport, were passed across the heads of mourners massed in central Tehran,
many of them chanting "Death to America."
One of the Islamic Republic's major regional goals, namely
to drive U.S. forces out of neighboring Iraq, came a step closer on Sunday when
the Iraqi parliament backed a recommendation by the prime minister for all
foreign troops to be ordered out.
"Despite the internal and external difficulties that we
might face, it remains best for Iraq on principle and practically," said
Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who resigned in November amid
anti-government protests.
Iraq's rival Shi'ite leaders, including ones opposed to
Iranian influence, have united since Friday's attack in calling for the
expulsion of U.S. troops.
Esmail Qaani, the new head of the Quds Force, the
Revolutionary Guards' unit in charge of activities abroad, said Iran would
continue Soleimani's path and said "the only compensation for us would be
to remove America from the region."
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