Raza is a high-ranking member of the association known as the Ten Rings. After a secret agreement with Obadiah Stane, Raza captures Tony Stark, who is in Afghanistan displaying the Jericho Missile. He wants Tony to build him one of the missiles for his own use. (He was originally supposed to kill Tony, but they come to consider him more useful alive.) He calls Tony "The most famous mass murderer in the history of America", and then goes on to say that he is "honored" to meet him.
While Raza's guards are watching the prisoners day and night, Tony manages to build an armor to save himself and his fellow prisoner Yinsen. Tony manages to escape, while Yinsen is killed. Raza's face was badly burnt from the cave explosion. When Tony learns that company's weapons, including the Jericho, were recently delivered to the Ten Rings and are being used to attack Yinsen's home village, Gulmira, Tony dons the Mark III armor and delivers a devastating blow to the Ten Rings.
Later, Raza organizes a meeting with Stane to conduct further deals. Stane arrives at Raza's camp in a convoy with a squad of armed guards, to negotiate over Stark's abandoned armor in exchange for an army of armoured soldiers. This meeting ends when the Stane (who had no intention of striking a deal with him) betrays Raza, uses a special device to paralyze him in his tent, and leaves, but not before having has his men dispose of Raza's guards and telling them to "finish up".
