Crowds gather for burial of Iran's assassinated Supreme Leader

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0:30business needs in one place, saving you time, headaches, and serious money. Stop paying for missing pieces. Go to odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com to learn more. How has America shaped the world? I'm Asma Khalid, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. As the United States marks its 250-year anniversary, we've been exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the U.S. has shaped the modern world. And today on the show, we answer your questions about this moment and what to expect in the years to come. From the BBC, it's the United States at 2.50. Listen to The Global Story on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:19Hello and welcome to NewsHour. It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service studios in central London. I'm Tim Franks. A little bit later in the programme, we'll be hearing from the Prime Minister of the Baltic State of Latvia. What does he make of President Trump's behaviour at the NATO summit of policy towards Ukraine? All that, especially mattering to Latvia because, of course, it shares a border with Russia. And also, we'll be speaking to a man in a Viking helmet who tells us how he dreamt up the Norwegian football team's rose celebration, which has taken not just this country but this entire World Cup by storm.

1:57First, though, ever since the United States alongside Israel launched its war against Iran just over four months ago, there's been the question, where is this heading? There had been hopes, fragile hopes, that a memorandum of understanding, an MOU, not a full peace deal, but a temporary fix, signed last month, could end the violence, reopen the commercially vital Strait of Hormuz and begin to plot a pathway to further fruitful negotiations. The last two nights, though, have rocked whatever little faith there was in that MOU. The US and Iran have again traded strikes. The US military saying it hit 90 military targets.

2:34Iran claiming these were civilian sites. The Iranian military says that it has in turn targeted US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan. All this on the day when the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is due to be buried in the northeastern holy city of Mashhad.

2:59The sound from footage of the funeral procession on the streets of Mashhad showing tens of thousands of people, mainly waving flags, some sobbing openly. And these women chanting, I swear by the blood of the Supreme Leader, we will stand firm until the end. Death to America. There have been slogans in English proclaiming we must rise next to a picture of a clenched fist and also a huge flag being held up with we will kill Trump written in English. Patrick Wintour is diplomatic editor of The Guardian newspaper and has just returned from a reporting trip to Iran. In Tehran, I attended both the funeral in the major mosque in Tehran, which lasted over two days, and then on the third day that I was most active, there was a funeral procession through Tehran with the body of the Supreme Leader and members of his family or assassinated at the start of the war.

4:02And I thought there was kind of two big emotions. One was quite a lot of genuine remorse, sitting standing 10 yards from about three or four men who were sobbing uncontrollably for about 10 to 15 minutes. And it's just not something sort of buttoned up British persons used to seeing. So there was the remorse, even though you've got to remember he died four months ago, the Supreme Leader. And then the second kind of dominant emotion was one of anger and revenge. There were a lot of people carrying either banners or flags to the effect of kill Trump or revenge is what we need. And then there was another one which I thought was very telling because I thought it got the mood of the third day at least, which was we the people are Iran's missiles in the sense that they feel that the social cohesion that they could show.

4:53and it was very much where they were trying to talk to the world, not just internally. They were trying to show this social cohesion. Did you get any sort of sense of how representative this feeling of sadness and fury is? Inevitably, the people who are either going to the mosque or on these processions are self-selected and that they are likely to be motivated to support the cause that they're attending. I mean, that's true of any march. but I did speak to people who I thought were quite interesting in the sense that they were kind of not kind of down the line IRGC slightly poorer kind of typical supporters of the regime I was speaking to some quite middle-class people who but they they were angry that their leader had been killed in this kind of extra judicial sense and that they were angry that their country had been attacked.

5:47So you get this sort of extra layer of not just sort of regime supporters, but nationalists, patriots. And I later on one of the days, I went up to North Tehran, which is kind of more middle class area where the hijab is rarely seen, and went to some shopping centres. And I got speaking to people there, none of them had been on the march, and they were pretty alienated from the whole process. And I remember in particular speaking to a woman who's quite young, but she teaches German. And she just said she can't afford to go out any longer because inflation is absolutely extraordinary levels now.

6:25Food inflation is like 130%. She was mentioning the price of honey that had gone up four times since Norwuz, which is the spring. And she just said she lives alone with her mother now because she can't afford the housing. And she said she's not political whatsoever, but she's sure the protests will return. And there's two Irans in action. And the one that's out there and visible at the moment is the one that we're all seeing. But there is a sort of hidden Iran as well. Patrick Wintour from The Guardian, just back from Tehran. The US says these tit-for-tat strikes began after Iran targeted three cargo ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.

7:03President Trump has, in his characteristic way, given full voice to his disgust with Iran's leaders, also declaring the ceasefire over and scheduled negotiations pointless. Kirsten Fontenrose was senior director for the Gulf at the National Security Council in the first Trump administration. She's now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. In the past, she's said that both sides have misread each other. What does she make of the US right now? The current approach right now is the US thinks that they have about a week where Iran will be considering whether or not to come back to talks. And this is because the sanctions that were reimposed on Iran's oil imports on the 7th of July, given a grace period until July 17th to sell what's already out there, you know, on ships approaching markets.

7:51So until the 17th, they won't feel the crunch on their on their oil exports. And it gives them a little bit of time to place to, you know, play the strong man, to send signals. They'll have to get serious then. And so the administration in Washington says, we'll sit back and give them this little moment to think. And we expect that they will want to resume talks. Right. So it's contained, in other words. But I suppose it doesn't really suggest that the mood going into this is going to be at all propitious. These are two sides with zero trust who think that they need to signal to each other in a very forceful way just that neither is going to back down.

8:37That is very true. And as we've seen in other conflicts, it's hard for international mediators when the two parties that least want the peace are the two who are engaged in the hostilities themselves on both sides. But right now, when we're watching both sides up against some of their own deadlines, you know, the Iranian regime, as your program just mentioned, with the massive inflation and President Trump looking at midterm pressures, they both have things they're trying to balance. So both of them, even if they don't want to bend, do need to resume talks. Yes, but at the same time, I suppose for the US, there's also the sort of substantive problem, almost sort of philosophical problem that they're trying to solve a problem which didn't exist before this war was launched.

9:22And that is that the Strait of, I mean, you know, put the nuclear negotiations to one side. The Strait of Hormuz was not an issue before February the 28th. But I think that's a little bit of a fallacy. There was always the possibility that Iran could shut down the Strait of Hormuz. A possibility. It was only a matter of when they would do it. Well, yes, but when they were going to do it was triggered by the fact that the US and Israel launched this war. But would Europe or Asia have preferred this to be triggered by a Russian invasion into a NATO country and then learn that their supply for energy was cut off?

10:00Or Japan to learn when China takes Taiwan, to learn that Iran, the friend of China, as a favor, was cutting off that energy supply. I mean, there could have been worse times to learn this. I'm not saying that makes it a good thing. But I think the idea that this is solely an event that would happen because of this US war is a little bit of a fallacy. Kirsten Fontenbrose with an insight into the US's calculations. What about the Iranians? In the social media post, Mohamed Bagheer-Ghalibaf, Iran's top negotiator, accused the US of violating the truce of the last three weeks, we've voiced up his remarks.

10:35America still hasn't learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost free. Let me put it plainly, if you strike, you'll get hit. Don't flail around pointlessly or you'll sink even deeper. The Strait of Hormuz will only open with Iranian arrangements, not American threats. Ali Jaramaya is Middle East Analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations. What does she think of Iran's approach? The first week of this MOU, the confidence was starting to build on both sides, especially when they met with JD Vance in Switzerland. And there was a moment where both sides were actually giving tangible rewards to the other side, including Iran, essentially opening the strait.

11:23The moment things took a turn and where things went south was when the U.S. and Oman jointly established the southern corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, where a number of ships began to transit. and the penny dropped for Tehran that actually, unlike what they had been told in the MOU, where for the period of the MOU, which is 30 to 60 days, they would have oversight over the arrangements in the strait, that they were actually being excluded from that. Although the MOU was, I mean, as much of the MOU, it was rather vague about that. It did say, I mean, in 0.5, the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels.

12:08But it didn't say that that would be uniquely Iran's. That's true. And here is the original sin. The original sin is in an effort to create consensus through ambiguous language. The MOU was open to interpretation by both the US and Iran. And this has basically created a misunderstanding between them about what the intention of this 60-day period was. But I think from Tehran's perspective, it is increasingly viewing this MOU and the 60 days as a period of time where the US is using to shore up its ammunition, to restock its oil reserves and go back into another major war with Iran. This is increasingly the thinking in Tehran.

12:56This is increasingly particularly the hardline language that came out in the funeral this week, that it's now time for Iran to hit first, to change US calculations before they get into a bigger war. Right. Well, that's fascinating because that in its way echoes what President Trump has said about he thinks that these negotiations, which are due to resume on Sunday, I think, are a waste of time. Well, look, I think there are parts of both the US system and the Iranian system that do genuinely believe that. President Trump has shown himself to be a character of extremes. going from, you know, full on war with Iran, wanting unconditional surrender, to calling their readers rational and wanting to make peace and deal with this Iranian regime.

13:43So I think we'll have to see what they both do in practice. And I do agree with Kirsten, your previous guest, that both sides do not face many good options ahead. And they have to pick between the least worst. And right now, the least worst is preserving this diplomatic track that they have created through the MOU. And that was Eli Jeremiah, Middle East analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations. This is News Hour.

14:15Coming up in the programme, the Prime Minister of Latvia tells us why his country in NATO and bordering Russia needs to spend an ever greater proportion of its budget on defence. We have a 48 % decrease in tourism, decrease in investments. We have direct attacks, 36 already interactions in our airspace. This is the reality. And 5 % is not enough for Latvia. We need 20, we need 25 in order to secure European Union border, not just Latvia's border. That interview coming up in 15 minutes. Our main headline this hour, the United States and Iran are continuing to trade strikes in the Middle East as huge crowds gather in the city of Mashhad for the burial of Iran's assassinated supreme leader.

15:16You're with the BBC and this is NewsHour, live from London. The BBC has found evidence that false and misleading claims about Ebola of fueling violence against health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 1 ,700 infections have been reported and more than 500 people have died from the virus since May. But doctors and aid workers say that some people in affected communities still wrongly insist that Ebola doesn't exist and their distrust of those trying to treat the disease only makes it spread more likely. Marco Silva from the BBC Verify team has the story.

15:54In a video posted online last month, an angry crowd confronts a man in medical scrubs in Bunia in eastern Diyar Congo. As he backs away with his hands raised, one person in the crowd lifts a shovel. The man turns and runs. The crowd chases after him. Daniel Wello is a Red Cross volunteer. He and three of his colleagues were attacked as they prepared to safely bury an Ebola victim.

16:27They grabbed me from behind and started punching me, hitting me with spades and machetes. The bodies of people who die from the disease are highly infectious. That's why trained teams wearing protective equipment are needed to handle the burial. They're there to help stop the virus from spreading further. But on that day, the crowd turned on Daniel and his colleagues because of a rumour, a rumour that the coffin was empty.

16:56When they grabbed me, everyone insisted there was nothing in the coffin. Then they grabbed my three colleagues and started beating them without opening the coffin to check if the body was actually inside. Some in the crowd didn't believe Ebola was real. Others claimed the response team was only there to make money. But false rumours like these have become commonplace in Ebola-affected communities. health and aid workers are worried. All of this misinformation are directly affecting our operation on a daily basis and also affecting the security of our volunteers but also of our staff. Dr Aime Mbondanula is in Bunia.

17:36He's with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. When communities don't believe on the disease, when communities don't believe on our action. Immediately when we are coming to support the communities, there will be resistance. And that distrust in response teams has at times escalated into violence. The safe burial of Ebola victims has been disrupted. Health workers have been assaulted. Treatment facilities have been attacked. Equipment destroyed.

18:09In a video of a separate incident circulating online, which we have verified, a female health worker is repeatedly hit with wooden planks by a group of mostly men. Her attackers, local media say, blamed her and her colleagues for deaths in the community. BBC Verify has identified 12 incidents like this one, where misconceptions and false claims about Ebola appear to have driven real-world violence. And misinformation, response teams say, is also costing lives. We are having more people getting the disease because they don't trust, because they have received information who are not correct. So misinformation is something that we must fight as much as we are fighting the outbreak.

18:56Meanwhile, new incidents of violence continue to emerge. Just last week, an Ebola treatment centre in Ituri province was set on fire following a dispute over the burial of a suspected victim. For those responding to this outbreak, it's yet another reminder of the challenge they face trying to contain a deadly virus and misinformation about it. And that was Marco Silva from the BBC Verify team. One of the most recognisable voices in power ballad pop music, Bonnie Tyler, has died at the age of 75. One of her major hits, you may well remember it, A Total Eclipse of the Heart. It passed a billion streams on Spotify earlier this year, and it was one of her many smash hits.

19:42Fueled by a trademark rasp that had been the unintended result of an operation she underwent early in her career. It did, though, lead to her selling an estimated 100 million records worldwide. Mal Pope is a Welsh musician and composer based in Swansea in South Wales, and counted Bonnie Tyler as a good friend. He knew her by her real name, Gaynor Hopkins. Bonnie Gaynor, she was an everyday superstar, is the way I'd like to think of her. She's been a great friend for 50 years. It's hard to think we both go back that far together. You know, local girl was singing in the South Wales Working Men's Club.

20:22Those are difficult years, but you really pay your dues doing those gigs. Spotly by accident, in fact, Tim. She was the lad who found her, a guy called Roger Bell, was going to a Swansea nightclub. He went to the wrong room. He was there to see a male singer. And he just came across Gaynor Hopkins singing with a band. And he thought, this girl's got an amazing voice. She went back to London. They actually didn't want a girl singer, but they thought, well, bring her up. She might be good. That changed everybody's life. And the lovely thing about it, the lad who found her by accident, his name was Roger Bell.

20:54He works for her up until this day as well. He's still part of the family. And that says a lot about Bonnie, I think. She never forgot her roots. Never forgot her roots. And that voice that you mentioned at that stage, am I right in thinking that it was a little bit later on in her career that she had this operation that where it was an operation on her vocal cords where she was sort of ordered by the surgeon to rest her voice for six weeks and she got tremendously frustrated and sort of didn't rest her voice, let's put it that way. And as a result of that, it had this sort of got this trademark gravelly tinge to it.

21:31Yeah, that change of voice. Some things are fated to be. She needed that big voice to be able to carry those James Steinman songs. She was big all around, okay? She had that big voice, big hair, but she had a big character. And, you know, if you're going to go into that world, you would need that. You know, the humility is knowing how to treat people. In a local superstore here in Swansea, in the Mumbles, where people would ask, are you still singing a bit, Gaynor? And she'd say, oh, singing a little bit. having done a European tour. She needed that humility, but she knew she could go, she could sing with the best.

22:06She obviously achieved immense success. I mean, tens of millions of records sold worldwide. And, you know, and she, along with her house in Wales, close to you, I mean, she also did reap the rewards. I think she had a house in Portugal as well. Did she change over the years, do you think? oh no she was exactly the same and she would be the same to everybody um john collins arrived in swansea for a charity event bonnie was singing with my band john collins arrived in a white limousine white furs we were all called to meet her at the top of the stairs and just as she walked up bonnie turned to me and she said well ain't gonna cow in curtsy she knew her place and she She would take no nonsense as well.

22:56You know, she knew who she was. She'd take no nonsense from anybody. But she wasn't one to fling it about either. That was Mal Pope, Welsh musician and composer, and a friend of Bonnie Tyler, whose death at the age of 75 was announced earlier today. This is News Hour.

23:17How has America shaped the world? I'm Asma Khalid, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. As the United States marks its 250-year anniversary, we've been exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world. And today on the show, we answer your questions about this moment and what to expect in the years to come. From the BBC, it's the United States at 250. Listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

24:14Good Bad Billionaire wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

24:22The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary. And so on the Global Story podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe. We have this ability to export our story and a lot of people have bought it. I feel like the American dream is alive but not well. From the BBC, it's the United States at 2.50. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

24:55Bangladesh has been gripped by a severe measles outbreak. More than 700 people, most of them children, are thought to have died from the disease since March. Before this surge, the World Health Organization said that Bangladesh had made substantial progress towards eliminating the disease. So what's gone wrong now? The BBC's South Asia correspondent, Azadeh Moshiri, has this report from Bangladesh. We've reached the top floor of this hospital. All around us, there are dozens of families with their babies. They're lying on thin banquets. Some of them are rocking their children to calm them down.

25:31Others are fanning them because it's so hot and humid. Hospital officials have told us this ward has more than double the amount of patients it can handle and they've run out of beds.

25:50It took more than nine hours for Alamir to reach here with his son Arafat, his first child and just four months old. Arafat is having trouble breathing and has heart failure. He's lying on a bed between his parents, hooked up to an IV. When we first heard that a new disease had broken out, people in our village were crying in panic. I've cried so much that tears won't even come to my eyes anymore.