There have been 544 victims of unrest caused by large-scale protests in Iran and more than 10 thousand protest participants have been detained. The country's authorities claim that they have the situation under control and accuse the United States and Israel of organizing these actions. Donald Trump said that the Islamic Republic's leadership had crossed a red line by suppressing the protests, and revealed that the United States was discussing “very serious” options to support protesters.
US President Donald Trump said that the Iranian government is crossing the red line when harshly suppressing protests spreading across the country. He added that the White House is considering “very serious” options to support protesters.
“The military is looking into this issue. And we are considering some very serious options. We will make a decision,” the US leader explained.
At the same time, he promised that Washington would launch “attacks on a scale they have never experienced” if Iran attacked US military bases and commercial facilities. Previously, Tehran promised to do this if Trump intervened in what was happening in the country.
The US President also said he was in contact with Iranian opposition leaders and revealed that Iran's leadership had requested negotiations with the US on the country's nuclear program.
“The meeting is in the organization stage. Iran called. They want to negotiate,” the US President said.
Will the US attack Iran?
According to The New York Times, Trump was briefed in recent days about new options for attacking Iran.
“President Trump has not yet made a final decision, but officials said he is seriously considering authorizing an attack in response to the Iranian regime's efforts to suppress protests. <...> Sources said <...> The president was given several options, including strikes on non-military targets in Tehran,” the newspaper reported.
At the same time, CNN noted that the US government is concerned about this step, because it could lead to “inadvertently rallying the Iranian people to support the government” or forcing Iran to use force to respond to US attacks.
This TV channel also noted that the head of the White House is considering other options to put pressure on the leadership of the Islamic Republic that are not involved in military attacks. For example, cyberattacks against Iranian military or government targets would help undermine efforts to quell protests, as would new sanctions against Iranian politicians or Iran's energy and banking sectors. In addition, Washington is also exploring the possibility of providing Iranians with Starlink to expand Internet access, which the government has previously limited.
According to The Wall Street Journal, on January 13, Trump plans to meet with members of the administration and heads of several departments to discuss next steps against Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain are expected to attend the meeting.
Protests in Iran
Protests in Iran broke out on December 28 due to the devaluation of the Iranian rial and exchange rate fluctuations. The protests started in the capital and then spread to other cities. Soon, the protests took on an anti-government nature and escalated into riots. By January 8, they covered almost the entire country.
According to the latest data provided by human rights organization HRAN, 544 people have died as a result of the unrest caused by the protests. Among them were a prosecutor, eight children and 47 law enforcement officers. More than 10 thousand people were detained.
Amid the protests, the Internet was shut down in the country; it has been inactive for more than three days. Mobile communications are also intermittent.
The Iranian government asserted that it had the situation under control and accused the US and Israel of organizing these actions.
“America and Israel are sitting and giving instructions, saying, 'Go ahead, we're with you.' “The same people who attacked this country and killed our teenagers and children are now ordering these people to carry out these actions, demanding their destruction and promising support afterward,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said.
According to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the protesters are acting to please Donald Trump, who in fact does not care about the local population.
Iranian authorities have not officially announced the death toll in the unrest, but have declared three days of national mourning “in memory of the martyrs who died in the resistance against the United States and the Jewish regime.”
