Iranian soldiers gather to mourn General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, who was killed in an air strike at Baghdad airport, in Tehran, Iran January 4, 2020. — Nazanin Tabatabaee/West Asia News Agency) pic via Reuters
State television started a live programme showing thousands of mourners dressed in black gathered in the south-western Iranian city. They held up portraits of the general, seen as a hero of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and for spearheading Iran’s Middle East operations as chief of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force.Aerial footage showed a tide of mourners crammed into Mollavi Square and the surrounding streets of downtown Ahvaz, a city of 1.3 million people.They are expected to be flown to the Iranian capital for more tributes this evening.