In cities across Iran, tens ofthousands packed the streets tomourn Maj. Gen. Qassim Sulei-mani. Black-clad women and menbeat their chests and clutchedphotos of him. A black flag went upon the golden dome of Imam Rezashrine in the city of Mashhad, oneof the holiest sites of Shiite Islam.

Just a few weeks earlier, thestreets were filled with protestersangry with their leaders over theflailing economy and the coun-try’s international isolation.

But at least for now, Iran isunited — in anger at the UnitedStates.

For years, it has been a dividednation led by aged revolutionaries

determined to impose their will ona predominantly young popula-tion with no memory of the Shah,who was deposed in the 1979 Is-lamic Revolution, and with a thirstto live in a more normal nation in-tegrated into the world.

Suddenly, with one targeted as-sassination, the nation rallied be-hind its leaders.

Young and old. Rich and poor.Hard-liner and reformer. GeneralSuleimani, Iran’s most powerfulmilitary leader, was almost uni-versally admired and had nearcult figure status. After beingkilled in Baghdad on Friday in adrone strike ordered by President

Iran, Divided Politically, UnitesIn Its Hostility Toward America

By FARNAZ FASSIHI and RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

Continued on Page 12

C M Y K Nxxx,2020-01-05,A,001,Bs-4C,E3

BERKELEY, Calif. — Will Wittwalked through the University ofCalifornia campus doing what hedoes professionally, which istrolling unwitting young liberalson camera.

He approached students whoseemed like good targets: peoplewith political buttons on theirbags, androgynous clothing,scarves. It was safe to say that thevast majority here in the heart ofprogressive culture would be lib-eral. Mr. Witt, whose bouffant andconfident smile make him looklike a high school jock from centralcasting, told the students that hehad a question for them. If theyagreed to answer, and they usu-ally did, the game was on.

“How many genders arethere?” Mr. Witt asked beforeturning and staring deadpan atthe camera. Some people laughedand walked away. Most, knowingthe camera was rolling, engaged.

“As many as you want?” a re-cent Ph.D. student responded, alittle confused to be confrontedwith this question.

After some of the footage was

It’s a Fox NewsFor Teenagers,In Short Videos

By NELLIE BOWLES

Continued on Page 18

The future is uncertain for Europe’slargest steelworks, a victim of decliningindustry, haphazard regulation andvolatile politics. PAGE 5

INTERNATIONAL 5-12

A Sooty Symbol of Italy’s WoesA Dartmouth College academic de-spaired over what he said was a falseportrayal of his actions. His anguishproved too much to bear. PAGE 13

NATIONAL 4, 13-20

A Misconduct Suit and a SpiralCan the chain that made salads chic,modular and ecologically consciousreally grow even bigger in a fast-foodburger world? PAGE 1

SUNDAY BUSINESS

Sweetgreen’s ‘Grand Vision’ Jillian Weise PAGE 6

SUNDAY REVIEW

U(D5E71D)x+"!=!/!$!z

U.S. TROOPS Fort Bragg is preparing 3,500 soldiers to deploy. PAGE 14

When Facebook was searchingfor another New York office, onebig enough to fit as many as 6,000workers, more than double thenumber it currently employs inthe city, it had one major demand:It needed the space urgently.

So after the company settled onHudson Yards, the vast mini-citytaking shape on Manhattan’s FarWest Side, existing tenants weretold to move and a small army ofconstruction workers quickly be-gan to revamp the building evenbefore a lease had been signed.

Facebook’s push to accommo-date its booming operations ispart of a rush by the West Coasttechnology giants to expand inNew York City. The rapid growthis turning a broad swath of Man-hattan into one of the world’s mostvibrant tech corridors.

Four companies — Amazon,Apple, Facebook and Google — al-ready have big offices along theHudson River, from Midtown toLower Manhattan, or have beenhunting for new ones in recentmonths, often competing with one

Silicon Skyline:Tech Hub Rises

In ManhattanBy MATTHEW HAAG

Continued on Page 16

HASTINGS, Australia — Theevacuees walked down the gang-way of the giant naval vessel tothe dock, each carrying just a fewitems of luggage. Some held in-fants and others their dogs, whoselegs were still shaky from the 20-hour voyage down the coast ofAustralia. They were weary, andtheir clothes smelled of smoke,but the terrible infernos were fi-nally behind them.

Four days after a bush fire rav-aged the remote coastal town ofMallacoota, forcing people to shel-ter on the beach under blood-redskies, more than 1,000 strandedresidents and vacationers arrivedon Saturday in Hastings, a townnear Melbourne.

The authorities said it was mostlikely the largest peacetime mari-time rescue operation in Austral-ia’s history. It was also a symbol ofa country in perpetual flight fromdanger during a catastrophic fireseason — and the challenge thegovernment faces in getting theblazes under control.

Searing heat and afternoon

winds propelled fires over largeswaths of Australia on Saturday,adding to the devastation of adeadly fire season that has nowclaimed 23 lives. Thousands ofpeople have been evacuated,while many towns and cities un-der threat were still smolderingfrom ferocious blazes that rippedthrough the countryside earlier inthe week.

More than 12 million acres have

burned so far, an area larger thanSwitzerland, and the damage isexpected to only get worse in theextremely arid conditions that areallowing the fires to spread. Thefires are also so hot and so largethat they are creating their ownweather patterns, which canworsen the conditions.

With more than a month still togo in the fire season, the govern-ment announced on Saturday a

large-scale use of military assets,a deployment not seen sinceWorld War II, experts say. About3,000 army reservists, along withaircraft and naval ships, are beingmade available to help with theevacuation and firefighting ef-forts.

“The government has not takenthis decision lightly,” said DefenseMinister Linda Reynolds. “It is

‘Atomic Bomb’Of Fires SendsNation on Run

This article is by Livia Albeck-Ripka, Isabella Kwai, ThomasFuller and Jamie Tarabay.

Jill Rose cooled off her alpacas as a fire neared in New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday.MATTHEW ABBOTT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page 8

REVENGE The Mideast braces for Iran’s reply to a U.S. strike. PAGE 10

WASHINGTON — The powersof an American president towage war have grown strongerfor nearly two decades, eversince the Sept. 11 attacks led the

United States intoan era of perpetu-al conflict.

Those powersare now in the hands of the mostvolatile president in recent mem-ory.

President Trump’s decision toauthorize the killing of a topIranian military leader could bethe match that sets off a regionalconflagration, or it could haveonly marginal geopolitical impactlike so many of the targeted

killings ordered by Mr. Trumpand his predecessors. But it isjust the latest example of thecapricious way in which thepresident, as commander inchief, has chosen to flex his lethalpowers.

From his dealings with Iran,Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan,Mr. Trump has shown little evi-dence over the past three yearsthat his decisions about war andpeace are made after carefuldeliberation or serious consider-ation of the consequences.

In June, Mr. Trump shockedhis vice president, his nationalsecurity adviser and his secre-

More Powers, Few LimitsAnd a Volatile President

By MARK MAZZETTI

A procession in Karbala, Iraq, on Saturday for Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani of Iran and Iraqi militant leaders killed in a drone strike.MOHAMMED SAWAF/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page 9

NEWSANALYSIS

WASHINGTON — In the cha-otic days leading to the death ofMaj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani,Iran’s most powerful commander,top American military officials putthe option of killing him — whichthey viewed as the most extremeresponse to recent Iranian-led vi-olence in Iraq — on the menu theypresented to President Trump.

They didn’t think he would takeit. In the wars waged since theSept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pentagonofficials have often offered im-probable options to presidents tomake other possibilities appearmore palatable.

After initially rejecting the Su-leimani option on Dec. 28 and au-thorizing airstrikes on an Iranian-backed Shia militia group instead,a few days later Mr. Trumpwatched, fuming, as television re-ports showed Iranian-backed at-tacks on the American Embassyin Baghdad, according to DefenseDepartment and administrationofficials.

By late Thursday, the presidenthad gone for the extreme option.Top Pentagon officials werestunned.

Mr. Trump made the decision,senior officials said on Saturday,despite disputes in the adminis-tration about the significance ofwhat some officials said was anew stream of intelligence thatwarned of threats to Americanembassies, consulates and mili-tary personnel in Syria, Iraq andLebanon. General Suleimani hadjust completed a tour of his forcesin Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, andwas planning an “imminent” at-tack that could claim hundreds oflives, those officials said.

“Days, weeks,” Gen. Mark A.Milley, the chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, said on Friday,when asked how imminent any at-

tacks could be, without offeringmore detail other than to say thatnew information about unspeci-fied plotting was “clear and unam-biguous.”

But some officials voiced pri-vate skepticism about the ratio-nale for a strike on General Sulei-mani, who was responsible for thedeaths of hundreds of Americantroops over the years. Accordingto one United States official, thenew intelligence indicated “a nor-mal Monday in the Middle East”— Dec. 30 — and General Sulei-mani’s travels amounted to “busi-ness as usual.”

That official described the intel-ligence as thin and said that Gen-eral Suleimani’s attack was notimminent because of communica-tions the United States had be-tween Iran’s supreme leader, Aya-tollah Ali Khamenei, and GeneralSuleimani showing that the aya-tollah had not yet approved anyplans by the general for an attack.The ayatollah, according to thecommunications, had asked Gen-eral Suleimani to come to Tehranfor further discussions at least a

Trump’s Choice of KillingStunned Defense Officials

Call Made Despite Dispute on IntelligenceThat Warned of New Threats

This article is by Helene Cooper,Eric Schmitt, Maggie Habermanand Rukmini Callimachi.

Pro-Iranian supporters gath-ered in Baghdad on Saturday.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP — GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page 12

Late Edition

VOL. CLXIX . . No. 58,563 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2020

New England lost in the first round ofthe A.F.C. playoffs, in what might be thelast time quarterback Tom Brady andCoach Bill Belichick teamed up. PAGE 2

SPORTSSUNDAY

End of a Patriots Era?

Today, cloudy, blustery, colder, high41. Tonight, mostly cloudy skies, abit of snow late, low 35. Tomorrow,clouds then some sunshine, high 47.Details, SportsSunday, Page 8.

$6.00