'Basically propaganda’: Soleimani funeral crowds create a false image of national mourning, analysts say

Iranian leaders are using Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s funeral to create a false image of unity within the country, according to analysts who warn against falling for regime propaganda just weeks after a brutal crackdown on dissidents.

“I have no doubt that there is a significant segment of the Iranian population that does feel strongly in some way about Soleimani, but then to say that Iranians writ large are united or Iranians writ large revere this man is absurd,” Shadi Hamid, a senior Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution, told the Washington Examiner. “And anyone who says that is doing basically propaganda.”