Roots & Regional Strategy
This Iranian religious leader viewed Israel as an aggressive outside force and made the eradication of Israel part of the new regime's ideology.
Who is Ayatollah Khomeini?
This Israeli prime minister began calling for international action against Iran's nuclear program starting in the 1990s.
Who is Benjamin Netanyahu?
This Iranian general was the military strategist who built Iran's multinational network of militant fighters.
Who is General Qassem Soleimani?
President Trump's stated number-one priority when he took office regarding Iran's nuclear program.
What is dismantling (or withdrawing from) the Iran nuclear deal?
The year when the U.S. conducted a drone strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani outside Baghdad's airport.
What is 2020 (or January 2020)?
The year when Israel invaded southern Lebanon to drive out the P.L.O., prompting Iran to train and fund a new militant group.
What is 1982?
The year when Netanyahu's cabinet was divided over whether to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites.
What is 2012?
The Palestinian territory that Hamas seized control of in a civil war after winning national elections in 2006.
What is Gaza?
The month and year when Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and began imposing severe sanctions.
What is May 2018?
The leader of Hezbollah who became the most powerful figure in Iran's axis after Soleimani's death.
Who is Hassan Nasrallah?
This Lebanese Shia militant group, whose name means "the Party of God," was created by Iran to fight against Israel.
What is Hezbollah?
This Mossad official argued against striking Iran's nuclear program, claiming the Iranians were not building a bomb at that time.
Who is Zohar Palti?
Israel's response to Hamas's control of Gaza, designed to stop weapons from entering and prevent fighters from crossing into Israel.
What is a blockade?
Trump's name for his policy of severe economic sanctions designed to pressure Iran into submission.
What is "maximum pressure"?
Trump's description of General Soleimani immediately after ordering his assassination.
What is "the number-one terrorist anywhere in the world"?
The strategy the Iranians learned they could use to get the the US influence out of the region, demonstrated by the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing.
What is terrorism (or asymmetric behavior)?
President Obama's approach to Iran's nuclear program, chosen over supporting an Israeli military strike.
What is diplomacy (or negotiation)?
The type of military actor that Hezbollah became known as—the best-armed of its kind in the world.
What is a non-state actor?
The group within Iran's government and military that became emboldened and empowered after Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal.
What is the hardliners (or the Revolutionary Guard)?
These two Arab countries normalized relations and made peace with Israel under Trump's Abraham Accords, marking the first peace treaties in nearly 30 years.
What are the U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates) and Bahrain?
These two countries were backed by the U.S. as rivals to Iran in the region during the early years of the Iranian Revolution.
What are Iraq and Saudi Arabia?
The specific international agreement signed in summer 2015 that restricted Iran's nuclear activities and lifted sanctions, despite Netanyahu's strong opposition.
What is the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action)?
Funded and supporting and funding militias in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Iraq so Iran wouldn't have to fight on its own territory.
What is Iran?
Iran's response to Trump's withdrawal from the JCPOA, which violated the terms of the agreement and demonstrated defiance.
What is increasing uranium enrichment?
What did Trump and Netanyahu think that the Abraham Accords could mean for the region despite strong Palestinian objections and concerns about the Palestinian issue being sidelined?
Peace in the Middle East with more countries.