Massive crowds in Mashhad for Soleimani funeral ceremony

Large crowds gathered across Iran on Sunday for a funeral ceremony for General Qassem Soleimani, the slain head of Iran's elite Quds force.

In the northeast city of Mashhad, tens of thousands of mourners dressed in black waved flags and banners near the Imam Reza shrine, where Soleimani's body was expected to be taken in a public procession.

Soleimani was killed in an airstrike near Iraq's Baghdad International Airport, ordered by US President Donald Trump on Friday.

Since then, Iran threatened "harsh retaliation" and Trump has said the US would strike 52 sites in the Islamic Republic if any Americans are harmed.