Iran crisis: '35 mourners killed' during stampede at Qassem Soleimani's funeral

Dozens also injured as huge crowds take to streets in Soleimani's hometown of Kerman

Dozens of mourners have been killed in Iran during a stampede that erupted during a funerary procession for a top general killed in a US airstrike, Iranian state TV has reported.

At least 35 people have been killed and 48 injured during the procession for Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite al-Quds force, who was killed in a US drone strike on Friday.

The burial ceremony for Soleimani, in his hometown of Kerman, in southeast Iran, was later cancelled because of the deaths.

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

State media reported that most of the injured were elderly people who had been going from Azadi Square in Kerman towards Beheshti Street when they got trapped in the huge crowds and died.

Thousands had gathered in Kerman's central square on Tuesday morning to pay their respects to the leader of the al-Quds force, the clandestine foreign arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Earlier in the day Hossein Salami, the leader of the IRGC, spoke at the gathering where he threatened to "set ablaze" places supported by the US.

A US airstrike Baghdad airport on Friday killed Soleimani as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the head the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, sparking fury across the region.

Salami praised Soleimani's work abroad, describing him as essential to backing Palestinian groups, Yemen's Houthi rebels and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.

Soleimani, known as the architect of Iran's proxy wars abroad, has been accused of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US servicemen in Iraq as well as killings and sieges in Syria.

His death has galvanised his support in places like Iraq but also Iran, Gaza and Lebanon where he has backed mostly-Shia armed groups.

Salami said as a martyr, Soleimani represented an even greater threat to Iran's enemies.

"We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like," Salami said, as the crowd chanted "Death to Israel!"

Israel is a longtime regional foe of Iran.

It comes a day after funeral prayers in Tehran drew over 1 million people in the Iranian capital, crowding both main thoroughfares and side streets.