US-Iran-Israel crisis: who are the main players?
With the decisions and actions of those involved impacting countless millions, the stakes are high
The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday following failed negotiations and a crackdown on mass protests against the Islamic republic.
Here are the key actors in the crisis:
US President Donald Trump
The president has sought to position himself as a global peacemaker, but on Iran he has taken a consistently hard line.
Last year, his forces joined Israel’s war with the Islamic republic by conducting strikes on nuclear sites.
During the mass protests that shook Iran last month, Trump warned he would hit “very hard” if authorities “start killing people like they have in the past”.
In his first term, Trump was the architect of the “maximum pressure” doctrine aimed at weakening Iran economically and diplomatically.
In 2018, he pulled the United States out of the international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, which offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its ambitions.