Forty people have been killed in a stampede as Iranians flocked to the burial of a top commander killed in a US drone strike, officials say. The deaths in Qasem Soleimani's hometown of Kerman led to the postponement of his interment. A new time will be announced later. Millions are already estimated to have packed the streets for a series of funeral processions in Iran. Soleimani's killing has raised fears of a conflict between the US and Iran. The head of the Quds force was tasked with defending and projecting Iranian interests abroad, and was hailed as a hero in his home country. To the US he was a terrorist, and in explaining why he ordered the strike President Trump said he was acting on an "imminent" threat. It is unclear what caused the stampede in Kerman, south-eastern Iran, but vast numbers of people had been in the streets on Tuesday morning ahead of the planned burial. Pirhossein Koolivand, head of the country's emergency services, told Iranian media that "213 people have been injured and 40 lost their lives because of overcrowding at the funeral procession".