Pakistan, July 7 -- The funeral procession of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran was not arranged merely as a farewell. It was staged as an answer. Iran had lost its supreme leader to war, yet the state wanted the world to see streets filled with mourners, flags, chants and a carefully managed message of defiance.

This is how embattled states use mourning. For Iran's leadership, the procession was aimed as much at Washington, Tel Aviv and the Gulf capitals as at its own people. The point was to show that assassination and airstrikes had not broken the symbolic machinery of the Islamic Republic.

The more serious story, however, lies beyond the procession. Iran is trying to convert survival into bargaining power. ...