Mourners packed the streets of Tehran early on Monday for ceremonies to pay homage to top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, after he was killed in a US strike in Baghdad.
Clutching portraits of their hero in their hands, the crowd gathered on the outskirts of Tehran University where the supreme leader is to preside over prayers for the slain general.
The killing has stoked nationalistic fever in Iran and earlier US President Donald Trump threatened "major retaliation" if Iran avenged the killing of the key military commander.
The twin threats came as Iran announced it was further reducing compliance with a tattered international nuclear accord, ending limitations on numbers of centrifuges used to enrich uranium.
A woman carries a picture of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps General and commander of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani during a rally in Beirut, Lebanon. Source: EPA
The latest blow to the accord, which was meant to ensure Iran did not develop a nuclear weapon under cover of its nuclear industry, deepened the regional crisis set off by Friday's killing Soleimani in Baghdad.
Mr Trump ordered a US drone to fire a missile at Soleimani, one of the most influential people in Iran's government, when he was near the Iraqi capital's international airport.
Angry, black-clad mourners thronged the streets of Iran's second city Mashhad to pay last respects to the remains of Soleimani and chant "death to America”.
Qassem Soleimani attends a meeting in Tehran, Iran in 2016. Source: AAP
Mr Trump bluntly warned Iran against taking vengeance, repeating his insistence that US bombing targets could include Iran's cultural heritage sites. Critics say that would qualify as a war crime under international law.
"If they do anything there will be major retaliation," the president told reporters on Air Force One, as he flew back to Washington - and a looming Senate impeachment trial - from vacation in Florida.
Mr Trump had already threatened to bomb 52 unspecified targets in Iran if Tehran attacks US troops and interests in the region.
In his latest comments, he was adamant that targets could include places of cultural significance in a country boasting an ancient heritage and two dozen UNESCO-listed sites.
"They’re allowed to kill our people," a defiant Mr Trump said. "They're allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn't work that way."
Iraq tensions also soar
The situation in neighbouring Iraq, a US ally, also deteriorated, with the future of some 5,200 American soldiers there in doubt.
Many Iraqis have expressed outrage over the killing of Soleimani, who masterminded deep Iranian influence in the country. A top Iraqi military figure Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was killed in the same US strike.
In Baghdad, unidentified attackers launched a pair of rockets Sunday, hitting near the US embassy in the high-security Green Zone for the second night in a row. That was just hours after Iraq's foreign ministry summoned the American ambassador over the drone strike.
Mourners attending a funeral ceremony for Qassem Soleimani in Iran. Source: Mehr News Agency
And Iraq's parliament voted to request the government end an agreement with a US-led international coalition to fight the hard-line Islamist group IS in the region.
If the government agreed, that would effectively require the departure of US soldiers supporting the local troops in the anti-IS fight.
