Forty people were killed and more than 200 injured in Iran on Tuesday when a stampede broke out during a funeral procession for slain Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, Iranian media reported.
The stampede occurred in Soleimani’s hometown of Kerman, according to Iran’s Fars and ISNA news agencies.
More than 1 million people took part in a funeral ceremony for the slain Iranian general in Tehran on Monday.
Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq on Friday.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday that Iran has come up with 13 possible plans to exact revenge for Soleimani’s killing.
Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, threatened U.S. forces in the region, according to the report.
“If the U.S. troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their bodies horizontally out,” said Shamkhani.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday to hit 52 targets in Iran, one for every American taken hostage during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, “very fast and very hard” if Tehran attempts a reprisal for Soleimani’s assassination.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Maritime Administration warned on Tuesday that ships in the region were at risk.
“The Iranian response to this action, if any, is unknown, but there remains the possibility of Iranian action against U.S. maritime interests in the region,” it said, according to AP.
Also on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the United States had rejected his request for a visa to travel to New York for meetings at the United Nations.
“This is because they fear someone will go there and tell the truth to the American people. But they are mistaken. The world is not limited to New York. You can speak with American people from Tehran, too, and we will do that,” said Zarif, according to the report.
