US President Donald Trump has reportedly been briefed on options to respond to the harsh security crackdown on protests in Iran, as anti-government demonstrations continued for a 15th straight day.
As Trump has intensified pressure on the hard-line rulers in Tehran over the past week, he is now considering several options for supporting the protests in Iran, Axios and The New York Times reported, citing unnamed US officials.
While the reports said Trump has yet to make a decision on the form and scale of any move, The Wall Street Journal reported that specific options would be presented to the president on January 13.
Possible next steps could include military strikes, deploying secretive cyber weapons against Iranian military, and placing more sanctions on Iran's government, it added.
The reports came as rights groups and government media reported protests, arrests, and violence in dozens of towns and cities in Iran on January 11, with demonstrations entering a third week despite mounting pressure from security forces.
The potential for violence appeared to increase after the government called on its supporters to participate in nationwide rallies on January 12 to condemn what it called the "terrorist actions by the United States and Israel."
Trump Ramps Up Pressure
"Iran is looking at FREEDOM,” and the United States “stands ready to help," Trump wrote in a January 10 post on Truth Social, later reposting a Fox News video showing a protester at the Iranian Embassy in London briefly replacing Iran’s current flag with the former flag used before the Islamic Revolution.
In the past week, Trump has issued a series of stern warnings, saying the United States was “watching the situation very carefully” and insisting authorities refrain from killing protesters.
“Iran is in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump told a White House meeting on January 9.
“If they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved. We will be hitting them very hard where it hurts,” he said. “That does not mean boots on the ground, but it does mean hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.”
Trump's comments were met with explicit support from former Iranian crown prince and opposition figure Reza Pahlavi.
“President Trump, as the leader of the free world, has closely observed your indescribable bravery and has declared that he is ready to help you,” Pahlavi said in a video address released on January 11.
“The world today stands with your national revolution and admires your courage,” he added.
Elsewhere, the Israel Defense Forces said on January 11 that it was “monitoring developments” in Iran, adding that it was “prepared defensively and is continuously improving its capabilities and operational readiness.”
“The IDF will continue to operate to protect the citizens of the State of Israel,” the statement added.
Reported Death Toll Rises Amid Intensifying Crackdown
A man who witnessed a crackdown on protests in eastern Tehran told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda late on January 10 that the repression of demonstrations has escalated sharply, describing the situation in the city as resembling “war scenes.”
The man, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, said the continuous sound of pellet-gun fire has been heard across the Iranian capital in recent nights, while drones have been flying constantly over neighborhoods to monitor streets and alleyways.
Triggered by soaring prices, high inflation, and a plunging national currency, the unrest has emerged as the most serious challenge to the Islamic republic in years.
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian has blamed the unrest on foreign-linked “terrorists,” accusing the United States and Israel of seeking to “sow chaos and disorder” in the country.
“If the people have concerns, it is our duty to resolve their concerns, but the higher duty is that we must not allow a group of rioters to come and disrupt the entire society,” he said in a televised speech on January 11.
According to the Tasnim News Agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Movahedi Azad said earlier that legal proceedings against those taking to the streets across the country will be carried out “without mercy.”
The Iran Human Rights Organization (IHRNGO) says that as the harsh crackdown on demonstrations in Iran intensifies, reports “indicate widespread killing of protesters in different parts of the country, particularly in Tehran.”
According to the Norway-based rights monitor, the deaths of at least 192 protesters have been confirmed since the start of the protests, nine of whom were under the age of 18.
At the same time, the organization warned that there are unverified reports indicating the deaths of at least several hundred people, adding that according to some estimates the death toll could exceed 2,000.
Due to a complete Internet blackout in Iran and severe restrictions on access to information, IHRNGO stressed that independently verifying these reports “remains a serious challenge.”
Meanwhile, the Tasnim News Agency claimed that a “considerable” number of security and law enforcement personnel have also been killed in clashes with protesters over the past few nights.
Citing an “informed source,” the agency said actions against security forces had resulted in the “martyrdom” of many personnel, and that a significant number of police officers had also been injured.
'Grave Human Rights Violations'
Currently, only a handful of state-affiliated news agencies have access to the Internet and are publishing exclusively the narratives of security and law enforcement bodies. The Islamic republic has now cut off nationwide Internet access for more than two days.
In its latest assessment, HRANA, a rights-focused Iranian news agency, reported that 37 of those killed in the clashes were members of military or security forces, and that one prosecutor was also killed.
Rights groups say that Iran’s digital blackout is part of an effort to mask state violence during the security crackdown.
On January 9, Amnesty International warned that the Internet shutdown was being used “to hide the true extent of the grave human rights violations and crimes under international law.”
