Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Monday cried in public during the burial of Gen Qassem Soleimani.
Soleimani, the head of Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed on Friday following a strike ordered by US President Donald Trump.
Thousands turned up during the burial, with speakers mostly from Shiite Muslims calling for revenge against the US.
But it's Khamenei's passionate send-off for the military officer that shocked the nation. The spiritual leader literally cried as he prayed, reports AP.
“Oh Allah, they are in need of your mercy, and you are exalted above punishing your servants,” Khamenei said in prayer.
Khamenei so revered him that he awarded general Iran’s highest military order in March.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported that Soleimani is the only Iranian military official to receive the Order of Zulfiqar since the revolution.
When pinning the medal on Soleimani, the Iranian leader said he hoped God would reward the general and help him live a blissful life that ends with martyrdom.
“Of course, not any time soon,” Khamenei had said, adding that the “Islamic Republic needs him for years to come.”
The US accused the former military general of coordinating terror attacks targeting her servicemen across the Middle East.
US Vice President Mike Pence had on Saturday claimed that Soleimani had planned attacks in Nairobi in 2011 but the plot flopped.