The most powerful man in the Middle East you have never heard is on the frontline in Iraq fighting Islamic State (IS) - which is remarkable, and not just because he's 57.
The Iranian military mastermind Qassem Suleimani, who remains virtually unknown outside the region, has been photographed in Iraq with those fighting the Sunni militants of IS.
Suleimani commands the elite Quds Force, which is part of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and helps Tehran wage covert operations abroad. Fighters from the Quds Force are believed to have already played a key role in boosting Bashar al Assad's government forces in next-door Syria by engaging in combat with various Syrian rebel groups - including IS.
In a supreme irony, common in the Middle East of late, Suleimani is officially designated a terrorist by the US government - but is now fighting a terrorist group that has murdered at least two US citizens - James Foley and Steven Sotloff - and has been bombed by the US air force.
This image surfaced on Twitter on Tuesday and is believed to show the shadowy Iranian general on the ground in Amerli, the northern Iraqi town besieged by IS for two months until it was routed by Iraqi forces earlier this week, with the assistance of US air strikes. The town is not far from the Iranian border.
Analyst Emile Hokayem said Suleimani was effective because "he is a professional fighter who lives like one and shows up on the battlefield".
The war against IS have set the stage for the the United States and Iran to become unlikely allies - 12 years after George W Bush included the country in his "axis of evil".
In a long New Yorker profile last year, Suleimani was dubbed "the Shadow Commander" for his role in Middle East wars and regional politics.
He was designated a terrorist by the US State Department in 2007 for "Proliferation Activities and Support for Terrorism".
The designation said the Quds force had provided material to "terrorist organisations" including the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The onslaught of IS makes improved Iranian relations with the West as a possibility, as Shia-majority Iran deems Sunni Islamist militants as grave a threat as the US and UK do.
How Iran and the West fell out but could make up
British-Iranian Relations
The 1953 coup(01 of06)
Open Image Modal1973 - Oil, again(02 of06)
Open Image ModalIran, the world's second-largest exporters of oil, are among the Organisation of Petrol Exporting Countires (OPEC, pictured) nations to announce an oil embargo, throwing many western economies, but particularly Britain, into crisis, as the price of oil surges.BP is one of the seven Western oil companies whose influence OPEC was set up to limit.The embargo is partly in response to Western support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War against Egypt and Syria. British bases were used to supply Israel with arms during the conflict.
The 1979 Revolution(03 of06)
Open Image ModalTwenty-six years after Britain played a key role in giving the Shah absolute power, things do not end well for the Iranian king and he is overthrown in a popular uprising, ushering in the Islamic Republic of Iran.Britain responds by closing its embassy in the country. Though it eventually re-opens in 1988, relations between the two countries remain frosty.
1980 to 1988 - The Iran Iraq War(04 of06)
Open Image ModalIraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (pictured) attacked Iran in 1980, leading to a war that lasted eight years and killed hundreds of thousands of people. Along with other Western countries, Britain backs Saddam. While officially neutral and observing an embargo on arms sales to either country, Britain covertly sold the Iraqis military equipment, as revealed by Cabinet papers published 30 years later. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
2007 - Royal Navy sailors taken prisoner(05 of06)
Open Image ModalIn the nadir of recent Iranian-UK relations, Iran seized 15 Royal Navy personnel, claiming they had strayed into their waters while searching a merchant ship.After just under two weeks in captivity, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced they would be released and returned to Britain.On returning to Britain, the personnel claim the Iranians aggressively pointed machine guns at them, blindfolded them and held them in tiny cells.Iran responded: "Theatrical propaganda cannot conceal the mistake made by British military on violation of Iran's territorial waters and their repeated illegal entry into the country."
The ransacking of Britain's Tehran embassy(06 of06)
Open Image ModalBritain suspends diplomatic ties with Iran after protestors storm its embassy in Tehran and ransack it.The student protestors brought down the Union Jack flag and threw documents out of the window two days after Iran's parliament approved a bill that reduced diplomatic relations with Britain, following London's support of recently upgraded Western sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
How Iran And The West Made Up
Ahmadinejad out, Rouhani in(01 of06)
Open Image ModalRouhani addresses the UN(02 of06)
Open Image ModalObama and Rouhani's historic phone call(03 of06)
Open Image ModalSeptember 28 2013 - A 15-minute phone call between Obama and Rouhani is hailed as a historic moment that ends the 34-year diplomatic freeze between the two countries.It is the first conversation between an American and Iranian leader since 1979.Rouhani tweeted about the conversation, saying Obama ended it by saying "goodbye" in Farsi.
Diplomats exchanged(04 of06)
Open Image ModalCameron calls Rouhani(05 of06)
Open Image ModalNovember 2013 - After Obama becomes the first American president to call the Iranian leader in 34 years, David Cameron calls him too, becoming the first prime minister to do so in more than a decade."The two leaders discussed the bilateral relationship between Britain and Iran welcoming the steps taken since President Rouhani took office," a Downing Street spokesman says."They agreed to continue efforts to improve the relationship on a step by step and reciprocal basis."Cameron also implores Rouhani to be "more transparent" with Iran's nuclear programme, Downing Street says.
About that embassy...(06 of06)
Open Image ModalSuddenly, being friends became a lot more urgent when ISIS took Mosul, Iraq's second city, and began tearing through the country executing opponents and imposing strict Islamic law on the population.The Sunni militants' rise has been blamed on the pro-Shia stance of Iraq's Malaki government.Under Saddam, the country's Sunni minority dominated political life and fought an eight-year with Iran, which is a Shia majority country and does not like the idea of a terrorist army on its doorstep.