Senior security official Ali Larijani was killed in an airstrike two days ago, honoured today along with the crew of the Iranian navy ship sunk by the US at the start of the war.
Thousands of mourners gathered for the combined funeral. If you assassinate people whose religion embraces martyrdom, this can be expected.
The funeral saw some of the biggest crowds since the war began.
Floats carrying coffins of the slain officials were driven down Revolution Square in Tehran, surrounded by grieving mourners. Women wept holding posters of the former and new supreme leaders.
As it loses leader after leader, Iran's government still wants to maintain a sense that it can survive and outlast the enemy.
Holding a poster saying "Trump is humiliated", one man had this message for the US president:
"Trump, soon we will kill you; Netanyahu is not our target anymore, our target is you. You killed our children to mock us and we will kill you to teach you a lesson in history."
While Israel and America seek regime change in Iran, the scenes today suggest there is still considerable support for its government.
Mohammed and his wife, Hamideh, came with their children to show support. They told me people were united against the US and Israel's actions.
"The method of our weak enemy martyring him [Ali Larijani] shows its weakness and impotence.
"The way he was killed was very unfair and is unacceptable anywhere in the world." Mohammed told me.
Iran saw huge protests against the government before the war. Thousands of civilians were killed as well as hundreds of security forces, say authorities.
Opposition groups blamed the authorities for the crackdown, while the government insists the protests were stoked by foreign forces.
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What is clear from today's scenes in Tehran is many support the leadership still, not least because they depend on it for a livelihood.
Sepora, a protester holding a placard with a old Persian poem written on it, explained to me its meaning: "It says, 'if we are killed, all of us one by one, it's better than giving our country to the enemy'.
"It is our country, we will not surrender."
The culture of resistance and no surrender on show in today's events also highlights the limitations of a strategy aimed at bombing Iran into submission from the air.
"We are running out of time," she told MPs at a party event. "The very survival of the Labour Party is at stake."
The intention is clear: Rayner wants to demonstrate she is back and Sky News understands that her allies are increasingly confident that issues around her tax affairs will be resolved before the May elections, paving her return to the frontline at a moment of clear peril for the prime minister.
Politics latest: Sarwar hasn't spoken to PM since urging him to quit
Rayner was forced to resign in September after it emerged she had broken the ministerial code by underpaying stamp duty on her second home on the south coast by £40,000.
At the time, Rayner admitted her mistake, but said it had been her initial "understanding, on advice from lawyers" that she had paid the correct amount, having put her stake in the family home into a trust of her disabled son following her divorce in 2023.
But a fresh probe concluded Rayner should have paid more stamp duty because her new property in Hove was classified as a second home.
Since then, Rayner has been trying to resolve the matter with HMRC through lawyers and that process is reaching a culmination.
She has also been involved in speaking engagements and is writing an autobiography in an effort to raise enough funds to pay stamp duty owed and possible fines.
It's thought she's poised to earn over £100,000, more than enough to pay stamp duty owed and possible fines.
As the tax dispute rumbles on, Rayner is rallying MPs ahead of critical elections in May.
'Losing faith in the PM'
Friends of Rayner tell me the former deputy to Starmer - like many MPs across the party - has increasingly lost faith in the prime minister after the performance of his Number 10 operation, which has seen a huge turnover of staff, a series of damaging U-turns and bad decisions, culminating in the Mandelson scandal that has so badly wounded the prime minister and the party.
I understand that Rayner verbally warned the prime minister not to appoint Mandelson but was ignored.
Rayner had all but disappeared from view after her resignation in September over her tax affairs, but has become more vocal in recent weeks, urging the government not to water down capping ground rents and being a leading figure forcing Number 10 to disclose the Mandelson files.
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Her rallying cry to Labour MPs this week was her strongest yet as she told MPs "not to be embarrassed by Labour values" and took aim at the party's divisive immigration proposals.
Her speech to Labour's centre-left campaign group Mainstream's spring reception on Tuesday was a clear rebuke as she urged the prime minister to reconsider "un-British" immigration reforms.
The proposed changes to make it harder for migrant workers to quality for permanent residence in the UK have become a lightning rod for unhappy MPs, with over 100 signing a letter in recent weeks demanding that the prime minister water down the reforms.
Labour 'running out of time'
She also warned MPs in the wake of the Gorton and Denton by-election defeat to the Greens that the Labour Party "cannot just go through the motions in the face of decline", telling MPs: "There is no safe ground, we are running out of time."
"When the British people voted for us, they voted for change, we put it in our manifesto. The Labour Party is at its best when we are bold and stand by our values. We should make clear our mission is to represent working people," she said, warning that the party under Starmer had left voters with the impression that it represents the "status quo".
All of this adds weight to leadership speculation, with the popular former deputy and bookies' favourite to replace Starmer widely seen as the centre-left candidate in waiting should the PM face a leadership challenge post-May.
Allies of Rayner are clear the former housing secretary would not engineer a scenario to oust Starmer or directly challenge him.
But equally, she would consider running if MPs triggered a race, with one ally telling Sky News that if the May elections prove disastrous, there could well be 81 MPs prepared to call for his resignation and trigger a contest.
"She would have to weigh up the personal and the political and see what level of support there is in the party."
She is also testing support in the City.
'No lurch to the left'
The Financial Times reported this week that Rayner has joined a call with City investors, hosted by French bank BNP Paribas, in which she reassured them Labour would not lurch to the left.
The former deputy prime minister told investors on the call that the party would stick to the manifesto and not resort to more borrowing.
In essence, Rayner committed to sticking to Chancellor Rachel Reeves' fiscal rules. This would be in part to assuage investors over the prospect of a more left-wing leader and also to ensure that there is no deviation from the manifesto.
Her allies say the meeting was one of various speaking events she is doing in order to raise the funds to settle her bill with HMRC.
Possible leadership challenge
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is the only senior figure to go public and call for the PM's resignation, but in private a number of senior colleagues are openly discussing a possible challenge.
When Sarwar called for the PM to resign in February, Rayner joined the rest of the cabinet to back the prime minister, but friends suggest that if the situation deteriorates further she would not be so willing to come out in support again.
There is growing speculation among MPs that a terrible result for Labour in the May elections could precipitate a leadership challenge, although those at the top of Labour are divided about what might happen.
One senior figure told me recently that they thought Starmer would survive the bloodbath of May because there are "enough people in the Labour Party that dislike the alternative enough that they'll keep Keir Starmer in" - be that Angela Rayner on the left, or Wes Streeting on the right.
Others think the scale of losses could spur MPs, and senior figures, into action in a way that Sarwar's resignation in February did not.
What is clear is that the prime minister would fight any challenge to his leadership. Starmer has made it repeatedly clear that he has no intention of quitting Number 10, throwing down the gauntlet to his MPs to try to force him out.
When I asked Anas Sarwar this week whether he thought the PM should resign if the results are bad, he simply told me that he had stated his position in February and was not "recoiling from that position".
The Scottish Labour leader clearly felt he needed to cut Starmer loose to have any hope in convincing Scottish voters to back Labour, such is the dislike for Westminster government in Scotland.
"I feel I had a duty to be straight to the people that I'm going to have to look in the eye over the course of the next 50 days and ask them to put their support in me to replace an SNP government that's been in power for 20 years and to change the first minister of this country," said Sarwar of his decision to call for Starmer to go.
"I'm the person that's putting myself in front of the people of Scotland in 50 days' time. And people in Scotland have a right to know what are my standards, what are my principles, what am I willing to accept, and what would I do differently if I have the honour of being first minister of my country."
What happened at the last general election?
Back in 2024, Labour took 37 seats from the SNP in the general election - its best performance since 2007, as Starmer's Labour clocked up 35% of the vote and the SNP came in with 30%.
Back then, it looked like Sarwar could be heading to become Scotland's first minister.
Instead Labour has performed woefully in Scotland, coming in third behind the SNP and Reform in several polls.
The outlook is pretty bleak in Wales too, where Labour look set to lose control of the Senedd for the first time, according to polling, as Welsh voters turn to Plaid Cymru.
Welsh Labour had run the parliament in Cardiff for 26 years in a row, making it the most successful democratic party in the world.
Look to London and Labour are contemplating the prospect of a Zack Polanski green wave while in councils across England Reform are looking to make more gains.
When I asked Sarwar if May was the crunch point for Labour, he simply replied "absolutely".
Like Rayner, he seems clear that Labour are running out of time. What is far from clear, is where that goes next.
Mr Adams, who served as president of the Irish republican party Sinn Féin from 1983 to 2018, is facing a legal challenge from three men who were injured in bombings carried out by the Provisional IRA.
Accused of being a leading member of the group when the bombings happened, he was challenged with a statement which boasted that the militants would follow his orders, spoken by a solicitor who represented him in the 1980s.
Responding, Mr Adams said it was "not accurate", but added: "They were undefeated, they defied all attempts to criminalise them, to coerce them, they made the right call when they eventually made the call, and they had the maturity and intelligence to choose the right way forwards."
He was also asked about a statement given by the late Brendan Hughes, who was detained alongside Mr Adams in Long Kesh prison in the early 1970s, which described the Sinn Féin stalwart as a "major, major player in the war".
The court heard a passage from Mr Hughes' book, suggesting Adams' alleged IRA membership was common knowledge, which read: "The British know it. The people on the street know it. The dogs know it on the street."
The 77-year-old replied: "I was president of Sinn Fein for 35 years, deeply involved in the struggle. I defended the use of armed struggle when I thought it was appropriate.
"I'm not boasting, but I don't deny that I was a person of interest, of influence, and I used that influence as best I could to move from war to peace."
Mr Adams faced further probing about his former Sinn Féin comrade, Martin Ferris, who was described as a "former member of the IRA and convicted IRA gun runner".
The retired politician said he had "great admiration" for Mr Ferris, and that his party is "replete with histories of IRA people who then went on to embrace politics".
Another question concerned an internal memo from the British government in 1993, which said "the home secretary has concluded that Mr Adams is at the nerve centre of the PIRA".
Asked if it was accurate, the defendant said it was "not true", and accused the British government of demonising people who were trying to end the chaos and guide it "towards a democratic conclusion".
With regards to the bombings, Mr Adams said he was "stunned by what happened" and had "no involvement whatsoever".
He added: "The bombings in this case, the killing of three people and the wounding of others, I regret very much, but the folks giving this information have a vested interest."
Asked about those killed by the Provisional IRA, he said: "I do not stand by everything that they did, but these were my neighbours."
The claimants in the case are John Clark, a victim of the 1973 Old Bailey bombing in London; Jonathan Ganesh, a 1996 London Docklands bombing victim; and Barry Laycock, a victim of the 1996 Arndale shopping centre bombing in Manchester.
All allege that Mr Adams was a leading member of the Provisional IRA, which perpetrated the attacks, and are seeking £1 in damages.
He denies the allegations and says he was never a member.
He finished giving evidence on Wednesday, after which Edward Craven KC, defending, told the court the evidence against him was "extremely limited" and "bordering on non-existent".
He added: "There is not a single page in the 6,000-page bundle that implicates Mr Adams in any of the bombings."
Anne Studd KC, representing the victims, previously told the court that being a member of Sinn Fein or the Provisional IRA was "a distinction without a difference" for some, including Mr Adams.
She said he had "a foot in each camp" of the Irish republican movement - military and political.
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She added that he was "directly responsible for and complicit in those decisions made by that organisation to detonate bombs on the British mainland in 1973 and 1996".
The trial is expected to conclude later in March.
On Tuesday, the appeals board of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ruled that Senegal had forfeited the final in January by walking off the field in extra time to protest a penalty given to Morocco.
They subsequently returned to the field, only for their rivals to miss the crucial penalty, but now the board's decision has turned Senegal's 1-0 win into a default 3-0 victory for Morocco, making them the tournament's winners.
Now the Senegalese government is pledging to "pursue all appropriate legal avenues" to challenge the ruling.
"This unprecedented and exceptionally serious decision directly contradicts the fundamental principles of sporting ethics, foremost among which are fairness, loyalty and respect for the truth of the game," the government said in a statement.
The statement also branded the ruling "grossly illegal and deeply unjust" and a "manifestly erroneous interpretation of the regulations".
Similarly, the Senegalese Football Federation said the decision was "unfair, unprecedented, and unacceptable" and "discredits African football".
The organisation said it would appeal "as soon as possible" to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Justifying its decision, the CAF referred to Articles 82 and 84 of its Africa Cup Regulations.
The former stipulates that a team will lose the game and be eliminated from the tournament if it refuses to play or leaves the field without the referee's permission.
The latter article mandates a 3-0 win for the opposing team.
However, the referee has "full authority" to decide what happens in a match under Law 5 of the International Football Association Board, which sets the rules of the game globally.
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In its own statement, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation said its appeal to the CAF had "never been about challenging the sporting performance" of the teams, "but solely to ensure that the tournament rules are respected".
"CAF has acknowledged that the rules, known to all and applicable to all, had not been respected," it added.
So-called "clean-up squads" will see fly-tippers given conditional cautions by local authorities, making them clear up waste for up to 20 hours.
Currently, fly-tippers are only punished after conviction, often after lengthy court proceedings.
The government hopes this plan will speed up enforcement.
The measure is part of a major 10-point plan being unveiled by the Environment Agency on Friday, aimed at tackling both low-level fly-tipping and large-scale organised illegal waste crime.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said: "If you dump rubbish on our streets, you will be joining a clean-up squad and picking up the bill, not the taxpayer.
"We are clamping down on these criminals, making sure those responsible clean up and pay up. This government is handing both the Environment Agency and local authorities the power to boost waste crime enforcement, hand out tougher sentences and tackle illegal dumping faster."
The government says there has been an 8% increase in enforcement action against fly-tippers, with local authorities carrying out 572,000 actions in 2024/25.
Nature Minister Mary Creagh says the cautions will not replace current court powers or the ability of councils to seize vehicles.
"At the moment, courts and local authorities do have a range of powers, but they tend to take too long," she said.
"Local authorities are reluctant to prosecute because often the costs of prosecution can take longer and there can be very little consequence at the end of it, so this is a new penalty.
"As part of our manifesto, we promised that we'd bring in clean-up squads, so this is about forcing the people who are dumping on our streets, spoiling our landscapes, leaving landowners to pick up the costs to get a caution and to actually clean up the sites that they have actually despoiled."
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The minister said the Environment Agency has not previously had the funding to pursue big, organised crime groups.
The EA's enforcement budget for 2025/26 has been increased to £15.6m - but many still feel it is not enough to tackle the rapidly growing problem.
It's hoped the new clean-up squad measures will be introduced at the start of 2027.
The Local Government Association, which represents town halls, has called on the government and Sentencing Council to urgently review sentencing guidelines for fly-tipping, saying court fines are lower on average than penalties handed out directly by local authorities.
Arooj Shah, chair of the LGA's neighbourhoods committee, said: "Sentencing guidelines must be reviewed so punishments properly reflect the seriousness of the offence and the harm it causes to communities."