US-Israel-Iran conflict: Who are the main players?

After weeks of failed diplomacy and a massive military buildup, the US and Israel strike Iran, and the regime fires back — here are the leaders, rivals, and regional players

The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday following negotiations and a recent crackdown on mass protests within the Islamic Republic.

Here are the key actors in the crisis:

President Donald Trump

The US 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 in January, 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 program, which offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its ambitions.

While Western countries and Israel accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, Tehran has consistently maintained its program is for civilian purposes. Avowedly seeking Israel’s demise, it has enriched uranium to levels with no civilian application, and developed a huge ballistic missile program.

In February, Trump reopened negotiations with Iran, while continuing to multiply his threats.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iran’s 86-year-old supreme leader has long embodied the Islamic Republic’s posture of defiance towards its enemies, chiefly the United States and Israel.

In power since 1989 and holding the final say on all major state matters, Khamenei has overseen the steady advancement of Iran’s nuclear program, framing uranium enrichment as a sovereign right.

Expanding Iran’s regional influence in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen has been a defining feature of his foreign policy. His regime arms, funds and supports proxies including Hezbollah and Hamas that are committed to Israel’s destruction.

Khamenei has insisted Iran will “never surrender” to the United States and is skeptical about diplomacy.

During nuclear talks in 2025, he said he doubted a deal would “lead to any outcome,” arguing that Iran’s problems should be solved internally.

When talks resumed, he warned that Iran was capable of sinking American warships.

Khamenei refuses to abandon uranium enrichment and will not entertain discussion of Iran’s missile program.

“The Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war,” he warned.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

For decades, the Israeli prime minister has cast Iran’s nuclear ambitions, its missile arsenal, and its support for terror groups as an existential danger.

Netanyahu’s push for military action first materialized during the 12-day war last June, and he continued to maintain that Israel would again act to prevent any resurgence of Iran’s attack capabilities.

In January, addressing the Iranian public directly, Netanyahu said he hoped “the Persian nation will soon be freed from the yoke of tyranny.”

And this month, he warned that “if the ayatollahs make a mistake and attack us, they will experience a response they cannot even imagine.”

Netanyahu has repeatedly urged the Iranian people to overthrow their leaders and restore the ties the two countries had before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Reza Pahlavi, the shah’s son

The eldest son of the last shah has positioned himself as a potential leader of a democratic transition in Iran, though he has not visited Iran since before the revolution.

The former crown prince entered the global spotlight during the recent protests, where “Pahlavi will return” was among the anti-government slogans chanted nationwide.

He urged Iranians to join the protests and called for demonstrations abroad.

Based in the US, he has urged Washington to intervene directly to support Iranians seeking to oust the authorities.

“I am here to guarantee a transition to a secular democratic future,” Pahlavi told supporters in Munich in February.

“It is time to end the Islamic Republic,” he said, urging Trump to “help.”

He remains a polarizing figure, particularly within the Iranian opposition.

Pahlavi has faced criticism for his support for Israel, including a highly publicized visit in 2023.

Highly critical of repression under the Islamic Republic, he has never distanced himself from the abuses of his father’s era.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler has long shared the view of other Gulf states: they are happy to see a weakened Iran, but fear that destabilizing it could ignite chaos for the region.

Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has a traditionally fraught relationship with Iran, its heavyweight Shiite rival across the Gulf.

Months after becoming crown prince in 2017, Prince Mohammed raised hackles in Tehran when he described Khamenei as a Middle East “Hitler.”

But Riyadh and Tehran buried the hatchet when they restored ties in 2023 in a rapprochement brokered by China.

Regional stability has become the goal for Saudi Arabia, and when a US attack first appeared likely in January, it and other Gulf nations pressed Washington to hold off.