35 die in stampede as Iran bury military commander

 

At least 35 people have been killed in a stampede that erupted in the Iranian city of Kerman at the funeral procession for a top commander killed in a US air strike, Iran’s state TV said.

Another 48 people were wounded in Tuesday’s stampede, according to local media reports. Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in Kerman for the burial of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, who was assassinated on Friday near the international airport of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.

Initial videos posted online showed people lying lifeless on a road, others shouting and trying to help them.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the stampede, some of our compatriots have been injured and some have been killed during the funeral processions,” said Pirhossein Koulivand, the head of Iran’s emergency medical services, by telephone to state TV.

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Meanwhile, the United States has denied a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that would have allowed him to attend a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday, a US official said.

Yesterday’s comments by the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, came as tensions escalate between the two countries after the United States killed Iran’s most prominent military commander, Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad on Friday.

Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the United States is generally required to allow access to the United Nations for foreign diplomats. But Washington says it can deny visas for “security, terrorism and foreign policy” reasons.

The Security Council meeting would have given Zarif a global spotlight to publicly criticise the United States for killing Soleimani.