TEHRAN: The millions who turned out across Iran to mourn General Qassem Soleimani have testified to the apparent across-the-board popularity of a figure hailed as a “living martyr” for the Islamic republic.

Rising above divisions in Iran, funeral processions for the Revolutionary Guard commander assassinated in a United States drone strike last week in Baghdad drew massive crowds between Sunday and Tuesday in the cities of Ahvaz, Mashhad, Tehran, Qom and finally Kerman, his hometown.