Intensified Conflicts and Military Actions Spread Across Region

Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei is an Iranian politician and Muslim cleric. The second eldest child of Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei served in the Iran–Iraq War from 1987 to 1988, and also reportedly took control of the Basij that was used to suppress the protests over the 2009 election.

Zeina Khodr is a Lebanese broadcast journalist for the Al Jazeera English channel.

Ali Ardashir Larijani is an Iranian politician and former military officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who has served as Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council since 2025. He served as the speaker of the Parliament of Iran from 2008 to 2020. He has been a member of the Expediency Discernment Council since 2020, having previously served from 1997 to 2008. He filed for candidacy in the 2024 presidential election, but was ultimately disqualified. He previously ran in 2005, but finished in sixth place, and was also disqualified from running in 2021.

Gholamreza Soleimani ; is an Iranian military officer who is a senior officer in the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of the paramilitary Basij forces.

Israel Katz is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud currently serving as Minister of Defense and a member of the Security Cabinet of Israel. Katz has been recognized for his role in modernizing Israel's transportation infrastructure, including the expansion of highways, the development of high-speed rail, and reforms to Israel's ports that increased competition and reduced shipping costs. Katz has previously served as Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Transport, Minister of Intelligence, Minister of Energy, Minister of Finance, and twice as Minister of Foreign Affairs. On 5 November 2024, it was announced that he would be nominated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Defense Minister after Yoav Gallant was dismissed.

Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He served as Minister of Economics and Finance under President François Hollande from 2014 to 2016. He has been a member of Renaissance since founding the party in 2016.

On February 25, 2024, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old serviceman of the United States Air Force, died after setting himself on fire outside the front gate of the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. Immediately before the act, which was live-streamed on Twitch, Bushnell said that he was protesting against "what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers" and declared that he "will no longer be complicit in genocide", after which he doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire.

Naim Qassem is a Lebanese Shia cleric and politician who became Hezbollah’s secretary-general on 29 October 2024, the fourth person to hold the position. He participated in the founding of Hezbollah in 1982, and previously served as the first deputy secretary-general from 1991 to 2024.

Joseph Clay Kent is an American politician, former United States Army warrant officer, and former Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary officer who served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center from 2025 to 2026. A member of the Republican Party, Kent was the Republican candidate in the United States House of Representatives election for Washington's third congressional district in 2022 and 2024.

Tulsi Gabbard is an American politician and U.S. military officer serving as the eighth director of national intelligence (DNI) since 2025. She previously served as U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021 and in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2002 to 2004. Gabbard was a member of the Democratic Party until 2022, after which she became independent until joining the Republican Party in 2024.

Sir Keir Rodney Starmer is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2024. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015, and was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.

Xi Jinping is a Chinese statesman and politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) since 2012, and the president of China since 2013. Xi has been the leader of the fifth generation of Chinese leadership since 2012.

Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón is a Spanish politician and economist who has served as Prime Minister of Spain since 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since 2017, having previously held that office from 2014 to 2016, and has also been serving as the ninth president of Socialist International since 2022.

Mark Joseph Carney is a Canadian politician and economist who serves as the 24th prime minister of Canada since 2025. He has also been leader of the Liberal Party and the member of Parliament (MP) for Nepean since 2025. He previously was Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and Governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.

Naseer Ahmad Faiq is an Afghan diplomat currently serving as the Chargé d'affaires ad interim of the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations in New York since 16 December 2021. He continues to represent Afghanistan at the UN following the political changes in Kabul in August 2021.

Majidreza Rahnavard was the first person executed in public for charges stemming from his involvement in the Mahsa Amini protests. Rahnavard was accused of fatally stabbing two Basij militia guards during a protest in November 2022, leading to him being charged with, convicted of, and sentenced to death for moharebeh. Rahnavard's execution occurred four days after the first protest-related execution, that of Mohsen Shekari.

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War with Russia's annexation of Crimea and invasion of the Donbas, and has continued to serve during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been ongoing since February 2022.

António Luís Santos da Costa is a Portuguese lawyer and politician who has served as president of the European Council since 2024. He previously served as prime minister of Portugal from 2015 to 2024 and secretary-general of the Socialist Party from 2014 to 2024.

Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He has been the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005.

Shinjirō Koizumi is a Japanese politician serving as the Minister of Defense since October 2025. He previously served as the Minister of the Environment from September 2019 to October 2021 and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from May to October 2025. He has also served as a Member of the House of Representatives for the Liberal Democratic Party, representing Kanagawa since 2009. He is the second son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the younger brother of actor Kotaro Koizumi.

Pamela Jo Bondi is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 87th United States attorney general since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the 37th attorney general of Florida from 2011 to 2019.

Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa is a French former politician and convicted criminal who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.

Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz is a German politician who has served as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group as Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag from February 2022 to May 2025.

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War with Russia's annexation of Crimea and invasion of the Donbas, and has continued to serve during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been ongoing since February 2022.

Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the First Congolese Republic from June until September 1960, following the May 1960 election. Lumumba was the leader of the Congolese National Movement (MNC) from 1958 until his assassination in 1961. Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, he played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A member of the Workers' Party, Lula was also the 35th president from 2003 to 2011.

Marco Antonio Rubio is an American politician, attorney, and diplomat serving as the 72nd United States secretary of state since 2025, also the acting national security advisor. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Florida in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2025.

Satsuki Katayama is a Japanese politician serving in Japan's House of Councillors, having been elected in July 2010 as a candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). She previously represented the Shizuoka 7th district in the House of Representatives for one term from 2005 until 2009. She has served as the first woman Minister of Finance since 21 October 2025 in the first and second Takaichi cabinet.