Stars don't die. Stars tend to accumulate iron when fusion in the core depletes lighter elements. Remember that the strong nuclear force holds the protons in the nucleus together despite their mutual electromagnetic repulsion, but its range is very short. So when a nucleus gets so big that the strong force on one side of the nucleus isn't pulling the other side hard enough, the proton repulsion gets to be enough to split the nucleus. This kind of decay can be prevented when there are enough neutrons in the nucleus to hold it together. For heavy elements, that takes a lot of neutrons. During a supernova, there is momentarily an abundance of free neutrons for incorporation into growing nuclei. This neutron-rich environment doesn't last long. Before most of the unfused iron gets a chance to fuse into heavier elements, the supernova spews it out, along with what's left of the lighter elements, plus the heavier new ones. The reason I don't consider this the death of the star is that there is a remnant object; a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole, that has a long and interesting life ahead of it.