Iranians Bury Slain Leader Amid Renewed Fighting

“This bakery is steps away from one of Iran’s holiest shrines and the final resting place of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And it’s open for business, even as the United States and Iran continue to trade strikes. President Trump declared the cease-fire with Iran over after Tehran hit commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz this week. But the blame here only goes one way, at least among the people we could speak to in interviews conducted alongside government guides. The New York Times was granted access to the funeral in Iran, organized to project exactly this image of unity. Days of strikes by the two countries have now given way to an uneasy pause, as Iran completed a week of official mass mourning for Khamenei. He was killed in joint U.S. and Israeli strikes at the start of the war. Four months later, hundreds of thousands filled his hometown since dawn to lay him to rest. A final farewell for the man who led Iran with an iron fist for nearly four decades. In one of the country’s most conservative cities, Iranians who oppose their government were likely never going to be in this crowd. But we found that some mourners were quick to draw a distinction. The Trump administration frames its goals for the latest strikes differently. It wants Iran to allow free passage for commercial ships because the stakes are global. Before the war, a fifth of the world’s oil moved right through this strait. But the reignited fighting is fueling more defiance. In Mashhad, many echoed the calls for revenge that we heard in other parts of the country while covering Khameini’s funeral processions.