Trump holds off on military action against Iran’s protest crackdown as he ‘explores’ Tehran messages

**WASHINGTON** — President Donald Trump has arrived at a delicate moment as he weighs whether to order a U.S. military response against the Iranian government amid its violent crackdown on protests. Nearly 600 protesters have died, and thousands have been arrested across the country.

The U.S. president has repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration finds that the Islamic Republic is using deadly force against antigovernment demonstrators. It’s a red line that Trump believes Iran is “starting to cross,” leaving him and his national security team considering “very strong options.”

For the moment, however, the U.S. military—whom Trump has warned is “locked and loaded”—appears to be on standby as the president weighs his next steps. Iranian officials have indicated a willingness to open talks with the White House.

“What you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday. “I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages. However, with that said, the president has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran.”

### New Tariffs Announced

Hours later, Trump announced on social media that he would impose 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran, “effective immediately.” This marks his first action aimed at penalizing Iran for the protest crackdown and continues his use of tariffs as a diplomatic tool to pressure allies and adversaries alike.

Among the economies trading with Tehran are China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil, and Russia. The White House has declined to provide further details regarding the tariff announcement.

### Diplomatic Engagement and Internal Deliberations

While details remain scarce, Leavitt confirmed that the president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will play a key role in engagements with Tehran. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and key National Security Council officials began meeting Friday to develop a “suite of options” ranging from diplomatic approaches to potential military strikes. These options will be presented to Trump in the coming days, according to a U.S. official familiar with the internal discussions.

Trump told reporters Sunday evening that a “meeting is being set up” with Iranian officials but cautioned that “we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting.” “We’re watching the situation very carefully,” he added.

### Sustaining the Protests

Demonstrations in Iran continue, but analysts express uncertainty about how long protesters will remain on the streets. An internet blackout imposed by Tehran makes it difficult for participants to gauge the scope of the unrest in other cities, said Vali Nasr, a former State Department adviser and current professor at Johns Hopkins University.

“It makes it very difficult for news from one city or pictures from one city to incense or motivate action in another city,” Nasr explained. “The protests are leaderless, they’re organization-less. They are genuine eruptions of popular anger. Without leadership, direction, and organization, such protests, not just in Iran but worldwide, find it very difficult to sustain themselves.”

### Multiple Foreign Policy Challenges

Trump is simultaneously managing several other critical foreign policy issues globally. It has been just over a week since the U.S. military launched a successful raid aimed at arresting Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and removing him from power. The U.S. continues to mass an unusually large number of troops in the Caribbean Sea.

Additionally, Trump is focused on advancing peace talks between Israel and Hamas for Gaza and attempting to broker an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the nearly four-year conflict in Eastern Europe.

### Calls for Stronger U.S. Action Against Iran

Advocates urging Trump to take a hardline stance against Tehran argue this moment presents a unique opportunity to weaken the theocratic regime that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The current demonstrations are the largest Iran has seen in years—initially sparked by the collapse of the Iranian currency and now evolving into a broader challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s repressive rule.

Iranian officials, through the country’s parliamentary speaker, have warned that both the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if Washington uses force to protect protesters.

Some of Trump’s hawkish allies in Washington are pushing the president not to miss this chance to strike decisively against a vulnerable Iranian government still reeling from last summer’s 12-day war with Israel and recent U.S. strikes on key nuclear sites.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted Monday that this moment offers Trump the chance to demonstrate seriousness about enforcing red lines. He referenced former President Barack Obama’s 2012 declaration of a red line over Syrian chemical weapons use, which was not enforced when crossed.

“It is not enough to say we stand with the people of Iran,” Graham said. “The only right answer here is that we act decisively to protect protesters in the street and that we’re not Obama proving to them we will not tolerate their slaughter without action.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, another close Trump ally, declared, “The goal of every Western leader should be to destroy the Iranian dictatorship at this moment of its vulnerability.”

“In a few weeks, either the dictatorship will be gone or the Iranian people will have been defeated and suppressed, and a campaign to find the ringleaders and kill them will have begun,” Gingrich said in a post on X. “There is no middle ground.”

### Past Protests and Future Prospects

Iran has previously quelled large-scale protests, including the “Green Movement” after the disputed 2009 election and the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests that erupted following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in 2022.

Trump and his national security team have already begun reviewing military options and are expected to continue discussions this week.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted, “There is a fast-diminishing value to official statements by the president promising to hold the regime accountable, but then staying on the sidelines.”

Taleblu added that Trump has shown a desire to maintain “maximum flexibility rooted in unpredictability” with adversaries, but cautioned, “Flexibility should not bleed into a policy of locking in or bailing out an anti-American regime which is on the ropes at home and has a bounty on the president’s head abroad.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/12/trump-military-action-iran/

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