Iran plane crash: Ukrainian airliner crashes near Tehran, killing all 176 on board - CBS News

Shahedshahr, Iran —  A Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people crashed Wednesday just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport, killing all on board. It turned farmland on Tehran's outskirts into fields of flaming debris.

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines aircraft came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops, but both Ukrainian and Iranian officials said they suspected a mechanical issue brought down the Boeing 737-800.

The plane was heading for Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy extended his condolences to the families of the victims. His office said he had cut his visit to Oman short and was returning to Kyiv because of the crash. The country's Prime Minister, Oleksiy Honcharuk, confirmed the casualty toll.

Part of the wreckage from Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 that crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, is seen in this still image taken from Iran Press footage. IRAN PRESS via Reuters

"Our task is to establish the cause of the crash of the Boeing and provide all necessary help to the families of the victims," Ukraine's parliament speaker, Dmytro Razumkov, said in a Facebook statement.

Ukraine International Airlines said it had indefinitely suspended flights to Tehran in the wake of the crash.

"It was one of the best planes we had, with an amazing, reliable crew," Yevhen Dykhne, president of the Ukraine International Airlines, said at a briefing following the crash.

The plane had been delayed from taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport by almost an hour. It took off to the west, but never made it above 8,000 feet, according to data from the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.

It remains unclear what happened. Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran's Road and Transportation Ministry, said it appeared one of its engines caught fire. The pilot then lost control of the plane, sending it crashing into the ground, Biniaz said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Hassan Razaeifar, the head of air crash investigation committee, said it appeared the pilot couldn't communicate with air-traffic controllers in Tehran in the last moments of the flight. He didn't elaborate.

Citing initial information, the Ukrainian Embassy in Tehran said the plane had suffered engine failure and the crash wasn't caused by "terrorism," according to the Reuters news agency.

Reuters said Iranian TV reported that one of the plane's two "black boxes" was found.

Ukrainian authorities have offered to help with the investigation.

Emergency workers work near the wreckage of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 that crashed soon after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, in a still image taken from Iran Press footage. IRAN PRESS via Reuters

The plane, fully loaded with fuel for its 1,430 mile flight, slammed into farmland near the town of Shahedshahr. Videos taken immediately after the crash show blazes lighting up the darkened fields before dawn.

"The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue. … We have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site," Reuters quoted Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran's emergency services, as telling Iranian state television.

Resident Din Mohammad Qassemi said he'd been watching the news about the Iranian ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces when he heard the crash.

"I heard a massive explosion and all the houses started to shake. There was fire everywhere," he told The Associated Press. "At first I thought (the Americans) have hit here with missiles and went in the basement as a shelter. After a while, I went out and saw a plane has crashed over there. Body parts were lying around everywhere."

The plane carried 167 passengers and nine crew members from different nations, Biniaz said. The crash took the lives of everyone on board, Iranian emergency officials and Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said.

The majority of the passengers were Iranian nationals, Russia's RIA Novosti agency reported, citing Iranian authorities. Staff at the Boryspil airport in Kyiv told CBS News passengers on that flight are usually Iranian students coming back to Ukraine after winter holidays.

Iranian TV said 32 of those on the flight were foreigners, Reuters reported.  

AP journalists who reached the crash site saw a wide field of field of debris scattered across farmland, the dead laying among shattered pieces of the aircraft. Their possessions, including a child's cartoon-covered electric toothbrush and a stuffed animal, luggage and electronics, stretched everywhere.

Rescuers in masks shouted over the noise of hovering helicopters as they worked. They quickly realized there would be no survivors.

"The only thing that the pilot managed to do was steer the plane towards a soccer field near here instead of a residential area back there," witness Aref Geravand said. "It crashed near the field and in a water canal."

A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 with the registration UR-PSR, taxis at Berlin Tegel airport in Germany on October 31, 2018. JAN SEBA / REUTERS

The Boeing 737-800 is a very common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner used for short to medium-range flights. Thousands of the planes are used by airlines around the world.

Introduced in the late 1990s, it is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months following two deadly crashes. Boeing built the aircraft that crashed Wednesday in 2016 and it last underwent routine maintenance on Monday, Ukraine International Airlines said.

A number of 737-800 aircraft have been involved in deadly accidents over the years.

In March 2016, a Flydubai 737-800 from Dubai crashed while trying to land at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia, killing 62 onboard. Another 737-800 flight from Dubai, operated by Air India Express, crashed in May 2010 while trying to land in Mangalore, India, killing more than 150 onboard.

Chicago-based Boeing Co. was "aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information," spokesman Michael Friedman told the AP.

Boeing, like other airline manufacturers, typically assists in crash investigations. However, that effort in this case could be affected by the U.S. sanctions campaign in place on Iran since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018.

Both Airbus and Boeing had been in line to sell billions of dollars of aircraft to Iran over the deal, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. But Trump's decision halted the sales.

Under decades of international sanctions, Iran's commercial passenger aircraft fleet has aged, with air accidents occurring regularly for domestic carriers in recent years, resulting in hundreds of casualties.

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2020-01-08 09:05:00Z
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Iran plane crash: Ukrainian airliner crashes near Tehran, killing all 176 on board - CBS News

Shahedshahr, Iran —  A Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people crashed Wednesday just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport, killing all on board. It turned farmland on Tehran's outskirts into fields of flaming debris.

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines aircraft came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops, but both Ukrainian and Iranian officials said they suspected a mechanical issue brought down the Boeing 737-800.

The plane was heading for Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

Trending News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy extended his condolences to the families of the victims. His office said he had cut his visit to Oman short and was returning to Kyiv because of the crash. The country's Prime Minister, Oleksiy Honcharuk, confirmed the casualty toll.

"Our task is to establish the cause of the crash of the Boeing and provide all necessary help to the families of the victims," Ukraine's parliament speaker, Dmytro Razumkov, said in a Facebook statement.

Ukraine International Airlines said it had indefinitely suspended flights to Tehran in the wake of the crash.

"It was one of the best planes we had, with an amazing, reliable crew," Yevhen Dykhne, president of the Ukraine International Airlines, said at a briefing following the crash.

The plane had been delayed from taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport by almost an hour. It took off to the west, but never made it above 8,000 feet, according to data from the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.

It remains unclear what happened. Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran's Road and Transportation Ministry, said it appeared one of its engines caught fire. The pilot then lost control of the plane, sending it crashing into the ground, Biniaz said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Hassan Razaeifar, the head of air crash investigation committee, said it appeared the pilot couldn't communicate with air-traffic controllers in Tehran in the last moments of the flight. He didn't elaborate.

Citing initial information, the Ukrainian Embassy in Tehran said the plane had suffered engine failure and the crash wasn't caused by "terrorism," according to the Reuters news agency.

Reuters said Iranian TV reported that one of the plane's two "black boxes" was found.

Ukrainian authorities have offered to help with the investigation.

The plane, fully loaded with fuel for its 1,430 mile flight, slammed into farmland near the town of Shahedshahr. Videos taken immediately after the crash show blazes lighting up the darkened fields before dawn.

"The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue. … We have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site," Reuters quoted Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran's emergency services, as telling Iranian state television.

Resident Din Mohammad Qassemi said he'd been watching the news about the Iranian ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces when he heard the crash.

"I heard a massive explosion and all the houses started to shake. There was fire everywhere," he told The Associated Press. "At first I thought (the Americans) have hit here with missiles and went in the basement as a shelter. After a while, I went out and saw a plane has crashed over there. Body parts were lying around everywhere."

The plane carried 167 passengers and nine crew members from different nations on its flight to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Biniaz said. The crash took the lives of everyone on board, Iranian emergency officials and Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said.

The majority of the passengers were Iranian nationals, Russia's RIA Novosti agency reported, citing Iranian authorities. Staff at the Boryspil airport in Kyiv told CBS News passengers on that flight are usually Iranian students coming back to Ukraine after winter holidays.

Iranian TV said 32 of those on the flight were foreigners, Reuters reported.  

AP journalists who reached the crash site saw a wide field of field of debris scattered across farmland, the dead laying among shattered pieces of the aircraft. Their possessions, including a child's cartoon-covered electric toothbrush and a stuffed animal, luggage and electronics, stretched everywhere.

Rescuers in masks shouted over the noise of hovering helicopters as they worked. They quickly realized there would be no survivors.

"The only thing that the pilot managed to do was steer the plane towards a soccer field near here instead of a residential area back there," witness Aref Geravand said. "It crashed near the field and in a water canal."

The Boeing 737-800 is a very common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner used for short to medium-range flights. Thousands of the planes are used by airlines around the world.

Introduced in the late 1990s, it is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months following two deadly crashes. Boeing built the aircraft that crashed Wednesday in 2016 and it last underwent routine maintenance on Monday, Ukraine International Airlines said.

A number of 737-800 aircraft have been involved in deadly accidents over the years.

In March 2016, a Flydubai 737-800 from Dubai crashed while trying to land at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia, killing 62 onboard. Another 737-800 flight from Dubai, operated by Air India Express, crashed in May 2010 while trying to land in Mangalore, India, killing more than 150 onboard.

Chicago-based Boeing Co. was "aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information," spokesman Michael Friedman told the AP.

Boeing, like other airline manufacturers, typically assists in crash investigations. However, that effort in this case could be affected by the U.S. sanctions campaign in place on Iran since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018.

Both Airbus and Boeing had been in line to sell billions of dollars of aircraft to Iran over the deal, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. But Trump's decision halted the sales.

Under decades of international sanctions, Iran's commercial passenger aircraft fleet has aged, with air accidents occurring regularly for domestic carriers in recent years, resulting in hundreds of casualties.

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2020-01-08 07:55:00Z
52780544880119

Iran plane crash: Ukrainian airliner crashes near Tehran, killing all 176 on board - CBS News

Shahedshahr, Iran —  A Ukrainian airliner carrying 176 people crashed Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran's main airport, killing all on board, Iranian state TV and Ukrainian officials said.

The plane had taken off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in the Iranian capital when one of its engines caught fire, said Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran's Road and Transportation Ministry. The pilot then lost control of the plane and it crashed, Biniaz said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The Reuters news service reported that it burst into flames.

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"The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue. … We have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site," Reuters quoted Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran's emergency services, as telling Iranian state television.

Flight data from the airport showed a Boeing 737-800 flown by Ukraine International Airlines took off Wednesday morning heading for Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, then stopped sending data almost immediately afterward, according to website FlightRadar24. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there were no survivors extended his condolences to the families of the victims. The country's prime minister, Oleksiy Honcharuk, confirmed the casualty toll.

Zelenskiy was vacationing in Oman but was going to return to Kyiv immediately.

"Our task is to establish the cause of the crash of the Boeing and provide all necessary help to the families of the victims," said Ukraine's parliament speaker, Dmytro Razumkov, in a Facebook statement.  

Part of the wreckage from Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 that crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, is seen in this still image taken from Iran Press footage. IRAN PRESS via Reuters

Citing initial information, the Ukrainian Embassy in Tehran said the plane had suffered engine failure and the crash wasn't caused by "terrorism," according to Reuters. It added that Iranian TV said the crash was caused by technical problems.

Reuters said Iranian TV reported that one ot the plane's two "black boxes" was found.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members, Biniaz said.

Iranian TV said 32 of those on the flight were foreigners, Reuters reported.

The majority of the passengers were Iranian nationals, Russia's RIA Novosti agency reported, citing Iranian authorities. Staff at the Boryspil airport in Kyiv, where the plane was headed, told The Associated Press passengers on that flight are usually Iranian students coming back to Ukraine after winter holidays.  

Emergency workers work near the wreckage of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 that crashed soon after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, in a still image taken from Iran Press footage. IRAN PRESS via Reuters

Associated Press journalists who reached the crash site saw a wide field of debris scattered across farmland. The dead lay among shattered pieces of the aircraft. Rescuers in masks shouted over the noise of hovering helicopters as they worked.

The crash came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces in retaliation for the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

The Boeing 737-800 is a very common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner used for short to medium-range flights. Thousands of the planes are used by carriers around the world.

A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 with the registration UR-PSR, taxis at Berlin Tegel airport in Germany on October 31, 2018. JAN SEBA / REUTERS

Introduced in the late 1990s, it is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months following two deadly crashes.

A number of 737-800 aircraft have been involved in deadly accidents over the years.

In March 2016, a Flydubai 737-800 from Dubai crashed while trying to land at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia, killing 62 onboard. Another 737-800 flight from Dubai, operated by Air India Express, crashed in May 2010 while trying to land in Mangalore, India, killing more than 150 onboard.

Chicago-based Boeing Co. said it was "aware of the media reports out of Iran" and was "gathering more information."

Boeing, like other airline manufacturers, typically assists in crash investigations. However, that effort in this case could be affected by the U.S. sanctions campaign against Iran in place since President Trump unilaterally withdrew from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018.

Both Airbus and Boeing had been in line to sell billions of dollars of aircraft to Iran over the deal, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. But Trump's decision halted the sales.

Under decades of international sanctions, Iran's commercial passenger aircraft fleet has aged, with air accidents occurring regularly for domestic carriers in recent years, resulting in hundreds of casualties.

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2020-01-08 07:35:00Z
52780544880119

6.4 magnitude earthquake, aftershocks hit Puerto Rico l ABC News - ABC News

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2020-01-07 15:24:31Z
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US forces on high alert for possible Iranian drone attacks, and intelligence shows Iran moving military equipment - CNN

The alert reflects the heightened tensions between the US and Iran in the wake of last week's US drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani. US officials have claimed the strike against the general was carried out to prevent an "imminent" attack in the region that would have put American lives at risk, but have so far declined to provide details about the intelligence.

US intelligence also has observed Iran moving military equipment, including drones and ballistic missiles, over the last several days. US officials said the movement may be an Iranian effort to secure its weapons from a potential US strike, or put them in positions to launch their own attacks.

"There were indications that we needed to monitor the threats" even more closely than is already being done, one of the US officials said, referring to Monday night's state of heightened alert. The second official described it as "all Patriot batteries and forces in the area on high alert" against an "imminent attack threat."

Iran has put missiles on its drones that have been used in other attacks, including a significant attack on Saudi oil installations last year. While forces have already been on high alert for several days, they were even more vigilant Monday night, both officials said.

Based on the intelligence, the US was watching for potential attacks specifically against US locations in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. On Monday, the US Maritime Administration issued a warning to commercial vessels operating in the Middle East that "there remains the possibility of Iranian action against U.S. maritime interests in the region."

The decision to kill Soleimani has touched off a fresh crisis between the US and Iran. In an interview with CNN's Frederik Pleitgen on Tuesday, Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called the drone strike an act of "state terrorism."

"This is an act of aggression against Iran and amounts to an armed attack against Iran, and we will respond. But we will respond proportionally not disproportionally," he said. "We will respond lawfully. We are not lawless people like President Trump."

Later Tuesday morning, national security adviser Robert O'Brien said the US had intelligence leading to the Soleimani killing that American diplomats, facilities and military personnel were at risk of attack.

"He was plotting to kill, to attack American facilities and diplomats, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines (who) were located at those facilities, correct," O'Brien said during a gaggle with reporters at the White House.

O'Brien would not provide additional details on the threat, only saying the US had "strong evidence and strong intelligence."

Pressed as to whether there continues to be an imminent threat, O'Brien said, "I think the Iranians are talking about retaliating every day in the open sources and we're monitoring it and we're taking it very seriously."

CNN's Betsy Klein, Joe Johns and Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.

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2020-01-07 14:22:00Z
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Soleimani funeral stampede in Iran leaves at least 40 dead, state TV reports - Fox News

At least 40 Iranians were crushed to death Tuesday in a stampede that erupted during the funeral for Qassem Soleimani, the general killed last week in a U.S. airstrike, the country’s state media is reporting.

The gory episode in Soleimani's hometown of Kerman, which also reportedly left more than 200 injured, came as the U.S. Maritime Administration is warning ships across the Middle East to be on alert for possible retaliatory attacks from Iran.

“Unfortunately as a result of the stampede, some of our compatriots have been injured and some have been killed during the funeral processions," Pirhossein Koulivand, the head of Iran’s emergency medical services, told state media.

Coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a U.S. drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, in the city of Kerman, Iran, on Tuesday. (AP/Tasnim News Agency)

IRAN GUARD LEADER VOWS TO 'SET ABLAZE' US-BACKED PLACES, NETANYAHU REPORTEDLY DISTANCES ISRAEL FROM KILLING

The cause of the stampede was not immediately clear. Videos posted online showed people lying lifeless on a road and others shouting and trying to help them — and the incident has now delayed Soleimani’s funeral services.

It’s not the first time that chaos has erupted at a funeral for an influential Iranian figure.

In 1989, a funeral procession in Tehran for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was interrupted when his half-naked remains toppled out of an open coffin live on state television. Mourners had blocked the path of a truck carrying the deceased leader of the Iranian revolution and tore at his burial shroud, knocking his body to the ground. That led the broadcast to be cut short and his body airlifted by military helicopter away from the crowd until his remains could be rewrapped.

Soleimani, before he was killed last week, was the head of the Iran Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force. The U.S. had blamed him for the killing of American troops in Iraq and accused him of plotting new attacks just before his death Friday in a drone strike near Baghdad’s airport. Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President Bashar Assad in a long war and served as the point man for Iranian proxies in countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

DANIEL DAVIS: US SHOULD WITHDRAW FROM MIDDLE EAST WHILE THERE'S STILL TIME TO AVOID ANOTHER COSTLY WAR

Speaking in Kerman on Tuesday, Hossein Salami – the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – threatened to “set ablaze” places supported by the United States to avenge Soleimani’s death. His remarks were met with cries of “Death to Israel!” from a crowd of supporters, according to The Associated Press.

A separate procession Tuesday in Soleimani’s honor, in the capital of Tehran, is said to have drawn more than one million people.

Iran so far has worked up 13 sets of plans to avenge Soleimani's killing, according to a report from the Tasnim news agency.

It quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, as saying that even the weakest among them would be a “historic nightmare” for the U.S. But he declined to give any details.

“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.

The leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatened on Tuesday to "set ablaze" places supported by the United States over the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week. (AP/Tasnim News Agency)

BERNIE SANDERS COMPARES TRUMP TAKING OUT SOLEIMANI TO PUTIN 'ASSASSINATING DISSIDENTS'

The fiery rhetoric from Iran has prompted the U.S. Maritime Administration to issue a warning to ships across the Middle East.

“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.

Oil tankers were targeted in mine attacks last year the U.S. blamed on Iran. Tehran has denied being responsible, though it did seize oil tankers around the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of the world’s crude oil travels.

The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet says it will work with shippers in the region to minimize any possible threat.

The 5th Fleet “has and will continue to provide advice to merchant shipping as appropriate regarding recommended security precautions in light of the heightened tensions and threats in the region,” 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Joshua Frey told The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Iranian Gen. Alireza Tabgsiri, the chief of the Guard’s navy, issued his own warning.

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“Our message to the enemies is to leave the region," Tabgsiri said, according to the ISNA news agency. The Guard routinely has tense encounters with the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf.

Soleimani will ultimately be laid to rest between the graves of Enayatollah Talebizadeh and Mohammad Hossein Yousef Elahi, two former Guard comrades. The two died in Operation Dawn 8 in Iran's 1980s war with Iraq in which Soleimani also took part, a 1986 amphibious assault that cut Iraq off from the Persian Gulf and led to the end of the bloody war that killed 1 million people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2020-01-07 13:30:18Z
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Soleimani killing: Iran's Zarif vows response to US 'act of war' - Al Jazeera English

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned the United States that its days in the region are "numbered", describing the US assassination of a top Iranian military commander last week as "an act of war".

In an interview with Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Zarif said his country's response to the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, would come in due course.

More:

"Iran will respond because there was an act of war - an act of war combined with an act of terrorism against a senior official of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a citizen of Iran," Zarif said.

"We are bound to protect our citizens and our military officials. It was an act that has to be reciprocated by Iran. We will make the necessary deliberations and it will be an act that we will do, not in a hurry, not in a hasty manner."

Soleimani was killed along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi), an Iran-backed umbrella organisation comprising several militias, and several other people.

The attacks triggered a dramatic escalation of tensions in the region, and marked the most significant confrontation between the two countries in recent years.

"The act by the United States ... it enraged the feelings of many people outside Iran, inside Iran - that will have consequences for the United States," Zarif said.

His remarks came as dozens of people were killed in a stampede that erupted in the city of Kerman, Soleimani's hometown, during the slain commander's funeral procession.

Hundreds of thousands of mourners had gathered in the small city for the burial of Soleimani, which was postponed until further notice following the stampede, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Tuesday's funeral comes after days of processions that attracted huge crowds in the streets of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran, followed by Mashhad in the northwest, the capital Tehran and the holy city of Qom.

'What are they afraid of?'

In response to the assassination of Soleimani, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned earlier this week that "a harsh retaliation is waiting".

Washington argues it killed the commander in self-defence, aiming to disrupt plans to attack US personnel and interests. US President Donald Trump has defended the killing of Soleimani and threatened more retaliatory actions if Iran targets US citizens or assets.

Zarif meanwhile was scheduled to attend the United Nations' meetings later this week, but said his visa request was blocked by Washington.

"Secretary Pompeo called secretary-general of the United Nations yesterday, and said they didn't have time to consider my request and therefore they will not issue a visa," Zarif said, adding that the decision was in violation of US commitments.

"What are they afraid of? What do they think would happen if I go to New York," Zarif said.

"They think that I cannot communicate with the American people without coming to the United States. I can communicate with the American people sitting at home".

Although it is unclear how or when Iran may respond to the US assassination of Soleimani, any response is likely to come once the mourning period ends.

In a speech broadcast live on television earlier on Tuesday, Zarif said the US president committed a "stupid mistake by assassinating the greatest commander who stood in the face of terrorism".

"Our region, because of the US intervention ... has become victim to the endless war," Zarif said.

"Removing the US from western Asia is what will ... end wars and death in this region."

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2020-01-07 12:30:00Z
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