The world has spent much of the last week holding its breath following the Trump administration’s assassination of Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force, the external wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. For close observers of the region, it was arguably the most significant development since the foolhardy decision of the Bush administration, backed by Australia under John Howard, to invade Iraq in 2003.

Iran is among the most powerful states in the wider Middle East. Its population, military and economy are sizeable, even despite sanctions. It has a broad suite of cyber capabilities, commands terrorist organisations with global reach such as Hezbollah, and, since Donald Trump’s cancellation of the Iran nuclear deal, has a serious nuclear weapons program.