Tehran can boast of a growing list of foreign dignitaries – a show of strength for a regime that's rebounded since Khamenei was killed on the very first day of the war. His funeral is certainly intended as a victory lap for a leadership that's always revered martyrdom. But does that mask the reality that the Iran war has resulted, according to some, in a lose-lose situation? And with Khamenei's son and successor yet to show signs of life, who really is in charge?
Are we also witnessing the funeral of a theocracy, replaced instead with a military dictatorship? More broadly, how will the masters of Tehran deal both with a region that's working on how to bypass its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and a population that still has to grapple with corruption, rampant inflation and the cruel legacy of the New Year's crackdown on protests that left untold numbers dead or imprisoned?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Riham Mahir, Charles Wente.
