New Delhi:

Then businessman and reality television personality Donald Trump aimed a salvo at US President Barack Obama in 2013, blaming the latter would attack Iran "to show tough he is". A year earlier, he fired off another accusation at his predecessor: "Obama will start a war with Iran in order to get re-elected."

The posts, when seen in context of the ongoing Middle East conflict, were a window into Trump's future 14 years later. The February 28 strikes on Iran plunged the region into a volley of retaliatory strikes, dealing a body blow to economies and markets world over, and sending oil and commodity prices in an upward spiral.

A look back on Trump's words and actions during his two Presidential terms pertaining to Iran could easily allude to the early makings of a crisis almost a decade ago. Within days of assuming the top office after his first Presidential victory, Trump banned citizens from Iran and six other Islamic majority nations from entering the US. His swipe at Iran came at a time the latter held influence in Iraq gained by arming militias fighting the Islamic State.

A month later, came another action that set the tone for a confrontational four years - Iran was put on notice after Tehran conducted a ballistic missile test in 2017, and 13 entities linked to the missile program were sanctioned. The tests were viewed by Washington as provocations and violations of UN Security Council resolutions.

By 2018, Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), calling it "the worst deal ever negotiated". Under the deal, Iran had shipped most of its stockpile of highly-enriched uranium to Russia and agreed to intermittent inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The move reversed a landmark agreement that had cut Iran's enriched-uranium stockpile by 98 per cent, removed diplomatic incentives that had curbed Iran's nuclear activity, and quickly prompted Iran to resume higher-level enrichment. A "maximum pressure" campaign followed, with over 1,500 sanctions targeting Iran's economy, oil exports, shipping, and financial networks. Iran resumed enrichment levels beyond bounds set by the JCPOA.

Overlooking his aides' advice, Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran, leading to several international companies pulling out of the country.

A first came in 2019 when the US labelled another country's military branch - the Iran Revolutionary Guard corps - as a terrorist organisation. Months later, Iran shot down a US surveillance drone, claiming it violated Iranian airspace. Trump ordered retaliatory strikes but later cancelled them even as the aircraft were airborne and ready to attack "with 10 minutes to spare". By the end of the year, a rocket attacked a K-1 air base near Kirkuk, Iraq, where US service members and civilian contractors were located. This was followed by retaliatory US air strikes and an attack on the US embassy in Baghdad by protesters angered by the targeting of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia.

All but war broke out in 2020 after the assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran's top military commanders and head of the Quds Force. US bases in Iraq came under attack amid a massive escalation of tensions between Washington and Iraq. Over 100 American troops suffered traumatic brain injuries amid Iran's retaliatory strikes, though Trump played them down as "not very serious."

As Iran became a part of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the United States intervened last year, striking three key nuclear sites - Natanz, Fordo and Isfahan. Trump said the facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated".

Though rebuked by several experts, Trump continued to claim that Iran was close to building a nuclear "bomb". This brought on the February 28 Operation Epic Fury, with 900 strikes in 12 hours targeting Iranian missiles, air defenses, military infrastructure, and leadership sites, and leading to the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran retaliated, targeting countries in the Middle East region.