Trump briefed on new options for military strikes in Iran, source says
President Trump was briefed on new military strike options in Irana senior American official confirmed on Sunday.
Mr. Trump appeared to draw his red line for action on Friday when he warned that if the Iranian government started “killing people like they have done in the past, we will get involved.”
“We’re going to hit them really hard where it hurts,” he said at the White House. “And that doesn’t mean putting your feet on the ground, but it means hitting them really, really hard where it hurts.”
On social media, Mr. Trump offered his support to the protesters, saying “Iran is looking toward FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The United States stands ready to help!!!”
Mr. Trump’s warnings then come nationwide unrest to challenge the Iranian theocracy crossed the two week mark. At least 538 people have died in the violence surrounding the protests, US-based activists said, fearing the toll could be much higher. More than 10,600 people were arrested, the Human Rights Activists news agency said.
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed U.S. officials, first reported late Saturday that Mr. Trump had been offered military options but had not made a final decision. The WSJ reports that Trump will receive further options on Tuesday.
The United States has not moved any forces in anticipation of possible military strikes.
America has many capabilities and options, and cyberattacks could be one of them, according to a US official who also confirmed that the Trump administration approves of Elon Musk’s decision to make Starlink terminals available in Iran. This satellite internet service could help protesters bypass government restrictions amid an ongoing communications blackout. Starlink did not respond to CBS’s inquiries.
The United States already imposes heavy sanctions against the Iranian regime and has strengthened them in recent weeks. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday that Mr. Trump has “moral support” for his actions in Iran. He declined to answer a question about whether the United States would ban ships carrying Iranian oil from selling it on the black market.
“I think the Iranian people are rising up because they feel like there is a strong America that supports them,” Wright said.
Iran’s theocratic leaders continue to claim that the protesters are agitators influenced by the United States and Israel. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Saturday about protests and other regional issues, according to U.S. officials.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament and a hard-liner who has run for president in the past, warned on Sunday that the US military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if the United States strikes the Islamic Republic.
“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said, according to the Associated Press. “We are not limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective sign of a threat.”
On Friday, Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said on X: “Our enemies do not know Iran. In the past, the United States has failed because of its faulty planning. Today too, their flawed machinations will cause them to fail. »
There are currently 2,000 US troops in Iraq, stationed at bases that have previously been targeted by Iran-backed militias. There are also U.S. forces throughout the Middle East region, including major centers in Qatar, home of U.S. Central Command, and Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy’s Middle East-based 5th Fleet is stationed.
Last June, Iran launched a missile strike on Al Udeid air base in Qatar in retaliation for US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on “Facing the Nation” that U.S. military action in Iran now to help protesters would be a “serious mistake.”
“It would have the effect of giving the Iranian regime the opportunity to say that it is the United States that is screwing up our country,” Kaine said. “Right now, Iranians are rightly accusing the regime of ruining the country.”
Kaine called for continued sanctions pressure, noting that these had been successful against the Assad regime in Syria. Last December, armed rebels previously allied with terrorist groups finally ousted Assad from power after 14 years of civil war.
“US military action would bring back the painful history of the overthrow of the Iranian prime minister in the 1950s and give the regime the opportunity to blame the United States for its own failures,” he added.
Asked on Sunday whether shooting protesters would constitute the “red line” for Mr Trump that would trigger US action, a senior US official declined to explicitly confirm this, saying “only Trump can determine what the red line is”.
The White House and the U.S. State Department declined to answer questions about the specific military options being considered.
The protests began on December 28 following the collapse of the Iranian rial, which trades at more than 1.4 million to the dollar, as the country’s economy is strained by international sanctions imposed in part to curb its nuclear program. The protests intensified and turned into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
