A stampede at the funeral Tuesday for top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani killed at least 40 people and injured more than 200 others, Iranian state media reported.

Tens of thousands of people had gathered to honor Soleimani in his hometown of Kerman before his burial, following similar ceremonies this week in Tehran, Qom and Ahvaz. The state media reports said the burial was postponed following the stampede.

Soleimani's killing has sparked fears of a wider conflict as the United States and Iran threatened strong responses to each other's actions.

U.S. officials have blamed Soleimani for the killings of American troops in Iraq by Iranian-backed forces and accused him of plotting "imminent" new attacks against U.S. personnel in the region, while not publicly disclosing the nature of the threat.

With tensions between the United States and Iran raised, the U.S. has denied Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif a visa to travel to New York for upcoming United Nations meetings.

Following the airstrike, Iran also announced it was further cutting its compliance with the 2015 agreement that restrained its nuclear program.  That prompted U.S. President Donald Trump, who withdrew from the deal and applied new sanctions against Iran, to tweet Monday, "IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!"

Source : VOA