By Zahra Mirzafarjouyan

Widespread media coverage of funeral procession of Lt. Gen. Soleimani

January 6, 2020 - 15:14

TEHRAN – Millions of people have poured onto the streets in Tehran to pay tribute to the martyred Iranian top commander, Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani who was assassinated by the US terrorist forces in Baghdad on Friday.

The US terrorist forces assassinated Lt. General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s pro-government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in an airstrike ordered by US President Donald Trump at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday.

General Qasem Soleimani was hailed as a charismatic brave hero in Iran and beloved by the troops. He devoted his life to defend Iran's national interest in the region so he is considered as a national hero for Iranian people regardless of their different political and religious tendencies.

After holding massive funeral processions in West southern city of Ahvaz and East northern city of Mashhad, the bodies of the martyred commander and his Iranian companions arrived in Tehran Monday morning where millions of Iranians have packed the streets of the capital to bid farewell to the Iranian anti-terror commander.

A group of foreign ambassadors to Iran along with high-ranking officials of Iran and Resistance movement had also participated in the event.

The funeral procession in Tehran has received widespread media coverage.

‘Aljazeera’ alongside other Arab language media, covered the live event. It also prepared a report, titled ‘A sea of mourners in Tehran as calls for revenge over Soleimani assassination grow’ covering the whole event.

While broadcasting live footage of the event, ‘Russia Today’ described the unprecedented presence of Iranian people at the funeral procession of IRGC top commander as "extensive".

Vali Nasr, Advisor to former US President Barak Obama in a tweet wrote, “Looking at size of the crowds at #Solemani funeral this is a watershed moment for the Middle East.”

Journalist of New York Times Farnaz Fassihi mentioned in her Twitter account to the funeral procession, describing, “Millions are out. Sea of endless people by 6 am. In 25 years covering Iran, I have never seen anything like this.”

“I have also covered plenty of rallies in #Iran where crowd is bused in. It never gets bigger than tens of thousands. This is millions. This is not coerced,” she added.

‘Sky News’ also covered the event by referring to the message of Lt. Gen. Soleimani’s daughter to Donald Trump which was broadcasted live on Iranian television.

‘Time of Israel’ described this event as the largest processions in Iran since the 1989 funeral for the Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

“Reports said these were the largest processions in the country since the 1989 funeral for Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,” Time of Israel reported.

‘BBC’ and ‘Reuters’ also covered the funeral procession of Iranian commander by reporting the presence of huge crowds in Tehran streets and Gen. Soleimani’s daughter address to Trump.

“People cried while others clutched pictures of the late commander. Mourners passed his coffin over their heads and "death to America" chants were heard, BBC said.

“His daughter Zeinab Soleimani warned the US it faces a "dark day" for the killing. “Crazy Trump, don't think that everything is over with my father's martyrdom," she said,” it added.

‘Euro News’ called the event as huge funeral processions for Iran’s Soleimani.

“Huge crowds have gathered in the centre of Tehran on the second day of funeral processions on Monday. The day before, mourners, spreading across several kilometers, chanted slogans anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans against a background of funeral songs broadcast over loudspeakers.”

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