
More than 50 mourners have been killed and more than 200 injured after a stampede broke out on the final day of Qassem Soleimani's funeral in Iran today.

Iran's farewell to the general descended into chaos after thousands of people thronged to his home town of Kerman, where he is being buried on the third day of his funeral.

With a sea of mourners clamouring to see Soleimani's coffin, state media said the overcrowding had caused a stampede which left 56 people dead and 213 injured.

Footage which circulated online appeared to show emergency workers desperately trying to rescue mourners who had been thrown to the ground and badly hurt during the crush.

Soleimani's burial was postponed after the stampede, but later got underway at the 'martyrs' section' of a cemetery in Kerman.

Iran today renewed its vows of revenge against America, which regarded the general as a terrorist leader and killed him in a drone strike in Iraq last Friday.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who yesterday wept in public over Soleimani's casket, has ordered his country's forces to retaliate directly against US interests rather than relying on its proxies in the region.

Tehran says it has lined up 13 'revenge scenarios' and revolutionary guards leader Hossein Salami told the crowds today that Iran would 'set ablaze' US allies.

US forces are braced for a reprisal but their future in the Middle East was thrown into confusion yesterday when a letter confirming a withdrawal from Iraq was apparently circulated by mistake.

Donald Trump has vowed to retaliate if Iran strikes against US targets, despite lukewarm support from his allies including Israel which today declared its intention to 'stay out of it'.

Iranian mourners look around in panic after a stampede broke out at Qassem Soleimani's funeral in Kerman today, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds

With a sea of mourners rushing to see Soleimani's coffin, state TV said a stampede had broken out which left more than 50 people dead and more than 200 injured

Footage which circulated online appeared to show the aftermath of the stampede with injured people lying on the ground

An injured man lies on a hospital bed in Kerman after he was one of more than 200 people wounded at Soleimani's funeral

An injured Iranian woman is wheeled into a ward in Bahonar hospital in Kerman after she was wounded in today's stampede

Iranian mourners gather for the burial of slain top general Qassem Soleimani in his hometown of Kerman on Tuesday

Crowds throng around the vehicle bearing Soleimani's coffin today as the general's funeral concludes in his home town

A woman holds up a placard declaring 'we want revenge' during today's funeral gathering in Soleimani's home town

Iranian MPs chant 'Death to America' as they brand all US forces 'terrorists' Iran's parliament passed a bill on Tuesday designating all US forces 'terrorists' over Soleimani's killing. Under the newly adopted bill, all US troops and employees of the Pentagon and affiliated organisations, agents and commanders and those who ordered the 'martyrdom' of Soleimani were labelled as terrorists. 'Any aid to these forces, including military, intelligence, financial, technical, service or logistical, will be considered as cooperation in a terrorist act,' the Iranian parliament declared said. Some Iranian lawmakers held up pictures of Soleimani and chanted 'Death to America' while voting to hurry the bill through with a special procedure. Iranian MPs chant 'Death to America' as they vote on a bill which designates all US forces as 'terrorists' The measure appears to be an attempt to mirror a decision by Trump in April to declare the Revolutionary Guard a 'terrorist organization.' The US Defense Department used the Guard's designation as a terror organization in to support the strike near Baghdad airport that killed Soleimani. Lawmakers also voted for a £170million increase in the budget of the Quds Force - the foreign operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards that was headed by Soleimani. The bill was an amended version of a law adopted in April last year that declared the United States a 'state sponsor of terrorism' and its forces in the region 'terror groups'. Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, said that blackisting came after the US designated Iran's Revolutionary Guards a 'terrorist organisation'. Advertisement

In Kerman, mourners dressed in black converged on Azadi Square where Soleimani's coffin and that of his closest aide Hossein Pourjafari were on display.

'No compromise, no submission, revenge!' they yelled as they tried to catch a glimpse of the casket containing Soleimani's remains.

Later the head of Iran's emergency medical services, Pirhossein Koulivand spoke by telephone to state TV and confirmed that a stampede had broken out in the packed streets.

'Unfortunately as a result of the stampede, some of our compatriots have been injured and some have been killed during the funeral processions,' he said.

Officials said the stampede had broken out because of overcrowding and said men, women and teenagers were among the injured.

The injured were immediately transferred to hospital, he added. Some mourners were in the streets while others took refuge on nearby hillsides.

The death toll has been revised multiple times.

President Hassan Rouhani has promised an investigation into the stampede.

The British ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, tweeted in English and Farsi to say he was 'deeply sorry to hear about the loss of life' in Kerman.

Before the stampede, crowds were waving flags and holding up pictures of Soleimani as they mourned a man who was regarded as a national hero by many Iranians.

Schoolgirls were heard shouting 'death to Trump' while crowds chanted 'death to Israel' when Hossein Salami swore revenge on Washington.

'The martyr Qassem Soleimani is more powerful... now that he is dead,' the revolutionary guards leader told mourners today.

'The enemy killed him unjustly. We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like,' Salami said, drawing cries of 'Death to Israel!'

One mourner, Hemmat Dehghan, said he had travelled from the southern city of Shiraz to 'pay respects to the great commander of the holy defence'.

'[Soleimani] was not only loved in Kerman, or Iran, but also the whole world,' the 56-year-old war veteran said. 'The security of the whole world, Muslims, Shiites, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and especially Iran, all owe it to him.'

Another mourner said Soleimi's assassination 'boils the blood of the Iranian people'.

'He was seen as a great man who was ready to serve his people both then in the war and now. He must certainly be avenged,' said Sara Khaksar, an 18-year-old student.

Chants in isolated areas turned to a chorus of 'revenge, revenge!' as drummers started beating to rhythm usually played in mourning for Imam Hussein, the Shi'ite martyr.

In a separate funeral in Iraq, Iranian-backed militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was laid to rest after he too was killed in Friday's drone strike.

People were lying on the ground in the aftermath of the deadly stampede which broke out at the general's funeral today

This man was sitting in a crowd of mourners as chaos erupted on the third day of the general's funeral procession in Iran

Iranian officials said that 'as a result of the stampede, some of our compatriots have been injured and some have been killed'

The stampede (the aftermath of which is pictured) forced Soleimani's burial to be postponed

An injured Iranian woman rests on a bed at Bahonar medical facility in Kerman after she was wounded in today's stampede

An Iranian nurse tends to a man wounded in a stampede that broke out at the funeral of general Soleimani today

Flag-waving mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani

Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of the slain military commander. A stampede broke out at the funeral procession which killed more than 50 people, according to state TV

In Kerman mourners converged on Azadi Square where Soleimani's coffin and that of his closest aide Hossein Pourjafari were on display

A sea of mourners converged on Kerman today where Soleimani will be buried later, four days after he was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad

Protesters today burned a poster of Donald Trump which called the US president an 'embarrassment to humanity'

Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel should 'stay out' of Soleimani stand-off Israeli should 'stay out' of the crisis over the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the country's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. Netanyahu told his cabinet ministers that the Iranian general's death was 'a US event, not an Israeli event', according to Axios. The PM has given only lukewarm backing to Trump over the crisis, saying cautiously on Friday that the US had the 'right of self-defence'. Israel's energy minister Yuval Steinitz also sought to distance the country from the attack, telling Israeli radio that the government was 'standing on the sidelines, observing events'. Iran could retaliate against Israel and a top Iranian official threatened on Sunday to turn the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv 'to dust'. Angry mourners have chanted 'Death to Israel!' and burned Israeli flags at the huge funeral processions for Soleimani in recent days. However, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the 'American military presence in the region' should be the target of reprisals. Israel has vowed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and may find it hard to stay on the sidelines if Tehran continues to abandon the deal. Israel is widely believed to posses its own arsenal of nuclear warheads, but neither confirms nor denies it. Advertisement

Soleimani's death already has pushed Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal, and a series of top Iranian officials have sworn revenge on Washington.

Today the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the country had lined up 13 'revenge scenarios' in retaliation for Soleimani's death.

'The Americans should know that until now 13 revenge scenarios have been discussed in the council and even if there is consensus on the weakest scenario carrying it out can be a historic nightmare for the Americans,' Ali Shamkhani said.

'If the U.S. troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their bodies horizontally out,' Shamkhani said.

American forces are braced for retaliation and the US-led coalition against ISIS said in a statement that it was pausing its fight against the jihadists to shore up its own defences.

One official said the US anticipated a 'major' attack of some type within the next day or two.

US bases in the region are shoring up their defences and there are also fears that Iran will harass shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which is critical to the world's oil supply.

Officials have warned ships across Middle East waterways about the 'possibility of Iranian action' against US maritime interests in the region.

The global benchmark for crude oil rose above $70 a barrel on Monday for the first time in over three months, with jitters rising over the escalating military tensions.

One Iranian MP also warned of an attack on the White House while an adviser to Hassan Rouhani posted a list of Trump-owned properties in a hint of a possible reprisal.

Khamenei made a rare appearance at a meeting of the Iranian National Security Council on Monday to plot Iran's response, The New York Times reported.

In a sign of Iran's fury, the country plans to carry out reprisals itself rather than relying on its proxies in the region as it has frequently done in the past.

The supreme leader has vowed 'severe revenge' and president Hassan Rouhani yesterday warned Trump to 'never threaten' Iran.

Donald Trump has threatened a 'disproportionate response' targeting cultural sites, brushing off claims that such an action could be considered a war crime.

The president said America had lined up attacks on 52 targets 'important to Iran and the Iranian culture', representing the number of Americans held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran after a raid in 1979.

Iranian mourners stand on a bridge during the final stage of funeral processions for Soleimani in Kerman today

Three Iranian women hold up pictures of a smiling Soleimani as they join in the third day of public mourning today

In the Iranian parliament, lawmakers chanted 'Death to America' as they voted to declare US forces as 'terrorists'

Some of the mourners at Soleimani's funeral hold up a poster of the Iranian military general holding a weapon

Mourners in Kerman dressed in black carried posters bearing the image of Soleimani

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

Britain yesterday distanced itself from the plan to target cultural sites, pointing to international agreements on preserving cultural heritage.

Israel has also been lukewarm in its support for Trump, with Benjamin Netanyahu telling his cabinet ministers that Soleimani's death was a matter for Washington and that Israel should 'stay out of it'.

Dozens of mourners perch on the side of a building to watch today's funeral ceremony for the top Iranian general

Saudi Arabia, another US ally, said the kingdom was 'not consulted' by Washington before the killing amid fears that of an Iranian reprisal against its regional arch-enemy.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned on Monday that Iran must avoid 'further violence and provocations' after the alliance held emergency talks on the crisis.

The European Union, whose foreign ministers will hold emergency talks on the crisis Friday, said it was in both Iran and Iraq's interests to 'take the path of sobriety and not the path of escalation'.

Yesterday Khamenei wept in public over Soleimani's coffin at an outpouring of public grief in Tehran where as many as a million people turned out to mourn the general.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shared pictures of the huge 'sea of humanity' at the funeral - taunting Trump who is famously attentive to crowd sizes.

Today Zarif said he had been refused a US visa to travel to New York for upcoming meetings at the UN.

'The world is not limited to New York and you can talk to the American people from Tehran and we will do that,' Zarif declared.

He added: 'The ultimate expulsion of the U.S. from West Asia is the doomed fate of Washington's unbridled exploitation of the tools of war, sanctions, and assassination.

'The US will receive the definitive resolute response to its brazen, criminal act in a place and at a time it hurts most.'

Authorities later brought Soleimani's remains and those of the others killed in the strike to Iran's holy city of Qom, turning out another massive crowd.

The scale of the crowds in Tehran mirrored those who turned out in 1989 for the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic.

Many Iranians considered Soleimani, a decorated veteran of the eight-year war with Iraq, as a national hero, particularly for mobilising Shi'ite Muslim groups in Iraq to help crush the militant Sunni jihadists of ISIS.

In Thailand, security was tightened outside Iran's embassy in Bangkok where a poster paid tribute to the 'martyred' general

Iranian mourners gather for the burial of slain top general Qasem Soleimani in his hometown of Kerman today

A group of Iranian mourners unfurl the national flag during Soleimani's funeral procession in Kerman on Tuesday

Iran's parliament on Tuesday voted to designate the US military and the Pentagon as 'terrorist organizations' in response to the killing of Soleimani (seen above)

A huge picture of the assassinated general Qassem Soleimani is displayed to the crowds at his funeral procession in Kerman

Crowds chanted 'death to Trump' and 'death to Israel' as they waved pictures of Soleimani amid angry exchanges of rhetoric between Washington and Tehran

The US blames Soleimani for the killing of American troops in Iraq and accused him of plotting new attacks just before his death on Friday.

Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President Bashar Assad in a long war, and backed Iranian proxies in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

In Baghdad, the Iraqi parliament has called for the expulsion of all American troops from Iraqi soil, something analysts fear could allow ISIS militants to mount a comeback.

On Monday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said no decision had been made about withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The Pentagon's plans were thrown into confusion when a letter from a US Marine general appeared to show that a withdrawal had been ordered, but it was later declared a mistake.

'There's been no decision whatsoever to leave Iraq,' Esper said.

Trump has also warned he will demand billions of dollars in compensation from Iraq or impose 'sanctions like they've never seen before' if Baghdad goes through with expelling U.S. troops.

Possible sanctions on Iraq would would make those on Iran look 'tame', Trump said, adding: 'We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that's there... we're not leaving unless they pay us back for it.'

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (pictured praying over Soleimani's coffin in Tehran yesterday), wants Iranian forces to openly and directly retaliate against US interests

Iranians set a US and Israeli flag on fire during Monday's funeral procession for military commander Qasem Soleiman

Meanwhile, Iran's parliament on Tuesday approved a bill designating the United States military and the Pentagon as 'terrorist organizations.'

According to reports on social media, Iranian lawmakers chanted 'Death to America' while voting for passage of the bill.

On Sunday Iranian state TV said the country would no longer respect any of the nuclear limits in the 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump abandoned last year but which European powers are desperately trying to preserve.

Under the deal, Tehran had pledged to reduce its nuclear capacities for several years, including by capping its enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent, far below the more than 90 percent required for a nuclear weapon.

Iran has already overstepped some of the limits since Trump pulled out of the deal last year, which include restrictions on Iran's supply of centrifuges and the level to which uranium can be enriched.

Germany also said today it was withdrawing some of its troops deployed as part of the anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq.

A total of 32 German soldiers based in Camp Taji near Baghdad were flown by a military transporter A400m to the al-Azraq airforce base in Jordan, the German military said in a statement.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, France's president Emmanuel Macron and British PM Boris Johnson have urged Iraq to not jeopardise the battle against ISIS.

'Preserving the coalition is of great importance in this context. We call on the Iraqi authorities to continue to provide the coalition with the necessary support,' they said.

Thousands of people also took to the streets in Basra, southern Iraq, on Tuesday to mourn the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis - the deputy-leader of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces who was also killed in Friday's strike

Munhandis, who helped command Iraqi forces backed by Iran and led protests at the US embassy in Baghdad, was among five PMF commanders killed in the drone strike

The coffin of Muhandis is driven through the streets of Basra, in southern Iraq, during his funeral on Tuesday

The body Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis is welcomed in the southern city of Basra after it was flown from Iran ahead of his burial