A tide of mourners wept and beat their chests in the Iranian city of Ahvaz on Sunday, paying homage to top general Qasem Soleimani, after he was killed in a US strike in Baghdad.
"Death to America," they chanted at a mass gathering in the southwestern city, where Soleimani's remains arrived from Iraq before dawn, according to semi-official news agency ISNA.
Packing the streets as Shiite chants resonated in the air, mourners held up portraits of Soleimani, seen as a hero of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and for spearheading Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force.
Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike on Friday near Baghdad international airport, shocking the Islamic republic. He was 62.
The air strike was ordered by President Donald Trump, who said the Iranian general had been planning an "imminent" attack on US diplomats and the roughly 5,200 American troops deployed in Baghdad.
Soleimani's assassination ratcheted up tensions between the arch-enemies and sparked fears of a new war in the Middle East.
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Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei swiftly vowed "severe revenge" and declared three days of mourning.
But Trump warned Saturday that America was targeting 52 sites in Iran and would hit them "very fast and very hard" if the Islamic republic attacks American personnel or assets.
In a sabre-rattling tweet, Trump said: "If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before!"