At least 56 people have died in a stampede in Iran as tens of thousands of mourners packed streets for the funeral of a military commander whose killing has plunged the Middle East into a new crisis and sparked fears of a wider war.
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US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said the United States should anticipate retaliation from Iran over last week's killing of elite Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.
"I think we should expect that they will retaliate in some way, shape or form," Esper told a news briefing at the Pentagon, adding that such retaliation could be through Iran-backed proxy groups outside of Iran or "by their own hand."
"We're prepared for any contingency. And then we will respond appropriately to whatever they do."
Soleimani, a pivotal figure in orchestrating Iran's long-standing campaign to drive US forces out of Iraq, was also responsible for building up Tehran's network of proxy armies across the Middle East.
He was a national hero to many Iranians but was viewed as a dangerous villain by Western governments opposed to Iran's arc of influence running across the Levant and into the Gulf region.
"We will take revenge, a hard and definitive revenge," the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, General Hossein Salami, told the throngs in Kerman, Soleimani's hometown in southeastern Iran.
Soleimani's burial went ahead after hours of delay following the stampede, in which more than 210 people were also injured, according an emergency official.
Soleimani's body had been taken to holy Shi'ite Muslim cities in Iraq and Iran, as well as the Iranian capital, Tehran, before arriving for burial in the city cemetery's "martyrs section", according to the semi-official news agency ISNA.
In each place, huge numbers of people filled thoroughfares, chanting: "Death to America" and weeping with emotion. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wept as he led prayers in Tehran.
Prompted by the strong public backlash over Soleimani's killing on Iraqi soil, lawmakers in Iraq voted on Sunday to demand a removal of all foreign forces from the country.
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has told the US ambassador to Baghdad that the parliamentary resolution must be implemented.
More than 5000 US troops remain in the country along with other foreign forces as part of a coalition that has trained and backed up Iraqi security forces against the threat of Islamic State militants.
A NATO official told Reuters it would move some of its several hundred trainers out of Iraq. Canada said on Tuesday some of its 500 Iraq-based forces would be temporarily moved to Kuwait for safety reasons.
Friction between Iran and the US has risen since Trump withdrew in 2018 from a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, approved by his predecessor, Barack Obama, and reimposed sanctions on Tehran slashing its vital oil exports.
US officials have said Soleimani was killed because of solid intelligence indicating forces under his command planned attacks on US targets in the region, although they have provided no evidence.
Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said 13 "revenge scenarios" were being considered, Fars news agency reported. Even the weakest option would prove "a historic nightmare for the Americans", he said.
The Pentagon has been moving thousands of additional forces into the region, including roughly 3500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division.
Despite its strident rhetoric, Iran will want to avoid any conventional military conflict with superior US forces, analysts say.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump said Washington had singled out 52 Iranian sites, including ones important to Iranian culture, as targets to strike if Iran attacked Americans or US assets in response to Soleimani's death.
He later walked back the threat, saying he would follow international law.
Australian Associated Press
