Escalating Strikes Increase Tensions Across Region

Ali Hosseini Khamenei was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the 2nd supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination during the 2026 Iran conflict. He previously served as the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. His tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years and six months, made him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East at the time of his death. He held the title of Ayatollah and was considered one of the world's leading Shia marja'.

Burj el-Shamali is a municipality located some 86 km south of Beirut and 3 km east of the Tyre/Sour peninsula, merging into its urban area. It is located in the Tyre District of the South Governorate of Lebanon.

Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

Alexander Nikolaevich Uvarov was a Russian ice hockey player, who played in the Soviet Hockey League.

In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support, including consular services, for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entity is usually headed by a foreign minister or minister of foreign affairs. The foreign minister typically reports to the head of government.

Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem is an American politician who is the 8th United States secretary of homeland security. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the 33rd governor of South Dakota from 2019 to 2025 and represented South Dakota's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019.

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 July 2017, having previously held that office from 2014 to 2016, and has also been serving as the ninth president of Socialist International since 2022.

Christopher Eyles Guy Bowen is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Climate Change and Energy in the Albanese government since June 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was first elected to parliament at the 2004 federal election. He held ministerial office in the Rudd and Gillard governments from 2007 to 2013.

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.

Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez is a Cuban politician and engineer who has served as the 8th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, since 2021, and as the 17th president of Cuba, since 2019. In his capacity as First Secretary, he is the most powerful person in the Cuban government.

Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego is a Colombian politician, former guerrilla leader, and economist who has served as the 35th president of Colombia since 2022. Upon inauguration, he became the first left-wing president in the recent history of Colombia.

Daniel Roy Gilchrist Noboa Azín is an Ecuadorian politician and businessman serving as the 48th and current president of Ecuador since 2023. Having first taken office at the age of 35, he is the second-youngest president in the country's history, after Juan José Flores, and the youngest to be elected.

Kim Yo Jong is a North Korean politician and diplomat, and sister of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Jong Un. As of February 2026 she is the director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). This high-level appointment occurred during the first plenary meeting of the 9th Central Committee, held alongside the Ninth Party Congress in Pyongyang. Since September 2021, she has been a member of State Affairs Commission of North Korea.

Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between April 2022 to August 2023. He has also served as the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and chief minister of Punjab three times, making him the longest-serving person in the role.

Brendan Thomas Carr is an American lawyer who has served as the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) since 2025. Carr has additionally been a commissioner at the FCC since 2017. Carr studied government at Georgetown University and graduated from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America in 2005. He worked in private practice before joining the FCC in 2012 as an attorney and becoming an advisor to Commissioner Ajit Pai in 2014.

Vivian Motzfeldt is a Greenlandic politician who has been serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greenland since 2022. Prior to that, she served as the speaker of the Inatsisartut, the Parliament of Greenland, and the chairwoman of Siumut. In the fifth cabinet of Kim Kielsen, Motzfeldt was the minister of education, culture, church and foreign affairs.

Tarique Rahman, also known as Tarique Zia, is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since 2026. He is the eldest son of former President Ziaur Rahman and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

The title senior administration official is a term used by the American press to indicate the identity of a source while retaining his or her anonymity. As the title is subjective, the reporter writing the article is allowed to decide if a source should be called one. Most reporters require the source to have "commissioned status". These include any Assistant to the President, Deputy Assistant to the President, and Special Assistant to the President. However, senior administration officials almost always have the rank of Assistant. Other people that can be classified using this title include the Vice President and Cabinet secretaries. Sometimes officials request that they be identified using other titles to prevent anybody from determining their true identity.

The ambassador of Russia to the Netherlands is the official representative of the president and the government of the Russian Federation to the king and the government of the Netherlands.

The Igbo calendar is the traditional calendar system of the Igbo people from present-day Nigeria. The calendar has 13 months in a year (Afọ), 7 weeks in a month (Ọnwa), and 4 days of Igbo market days in a week (Izu) plus an extra day at the end of the year, in the last month. The name of these months was reported by Onwuejeogwu (1981).

Denisse Azucena Miralles is a Peruvian engineer, economist and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Peru for 21 days in 2026. She previously served as the Minister of Economy and Finance between 2025 and 2026.

Luis Enrique Arroyo Sánchez is the current Prime Minister of Peru since 17 March 2026.

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.

José Antonio Kast Rist is a Chilean politician and lawyer who has served as the 38th president of Chile since 2026. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2002 to 2018, representing districts in the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Kast was a member of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) until 2016, after which he became an independent, later founding the Republican Party (PRCh) in 2019, serving as its leader until 2026.

Brendan Thomas Carr is an American lawyer who has served as the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) since 2025. Carr has additionally served as a commissioner of the FCC since 2017.

Viktor Mihály Orbán is a far-right Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 2003, and previously from 1993 to 2000. He was re-elected as prime minister in 2014, 2018, and 2022. On 29 November 2020, he became the country's longest-serving prime minister.

Attaullah Tarar is a Pakistani politician who is the current Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, in office since 11 March 2024. He has been a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since February 2024.

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.

Enerhodar is a city and municipality in the northwest of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. It is on the left bank of the Dnieper River, on the opposite side of the Kakhovka Reservoir from Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka. Its main industry is electricity generation, at coal-fired and large nuclear power stations. It has an estimated population of 52,237. About 11,000 residents work at the nuclear power station. Since early 2022, it has been under Russian occupation.

Javier Gerardo Milei is an Argentine politician and economist who has served as the 59th president of Argentina since 2023. Milei also served as a national deputy representing the City of Buenos Aires for the party La Libertad Avanza from 2021 until his resignation in 2023 due to him being elected President of Argentina that same year.

Tel Rumeida , also known as Jabla al-Rahama and Tel Hebron is an archaeological, agricultural and residential area in the West Bank city of Hebron. Within it, lies a tell whose remains go back to the Chalcolithic period, and is thought to constitute the Canaanite, Israelite and Edomite settlements of Hebron mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple period literature.

Royce Charles Lamberth is a senior judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who formerly served as its chief judge. Since 2015, he has sat as a visiting judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio.

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.

Lee Carroll Bollinger is an American attorney and academic administrator who served as the 19th president of Columbia University from 2002 to 2023, as the 12th president of the University of Michigan from 1997 to 2001, and as 14th dean of the University of Michigan Law School from 1987 to 1994.

A range of notable current officials endorsed Donald Trump for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.