Trump To Be Briefed On Range Of Options In Iran

President Donald Trump will be briefed on Tuesday on “some kinetic and many non-kinetic” options in Iran, two administration officials told POLITICO on Sunday.

All eyes are on the president’s next moves after he threatened to strike the Iranian regime if it killed civilian protesters. Reports on Sunday indicated hundreds of Iranians have died during the current unrest, though information is limited.

The options being presented to Trump would range from targeted strikes inside Iran to offensive cyber attacks, one official granted anonymity to discuss ongoing conversations said, adding that the administration would want to avoid options that create massive civilian impact so things that can be tailored to targeting Iran's military forces are preferable. The administration is also looking at whether it can send terminals for Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet service, a former U.S. official said.

“We could step up the pressure campaign in a number of ways,” the official said. “The window [for the President to take action] is small but the people are angry.”

Trump is not expected to send American forces to the country, and the second official said at the moment no large troop or asset movements are currently in the works. Some in the administration fear that U.S. action might inflame tensions in the Middle East or backfire in its attempt to help the escalating protest movement.

The U.S. already has significant forces in the region, as shown in Saturday’s strike on ISIS fighters in Syria in which over 20 fighter planes attacked several sites. Iran’s air defenses were also severely weakened during last year’s joint Israel/U.S. air and missile strikes against the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the Tuesday briefing.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump’s, told Maria Bartiromo on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” he hopes Trump will take “action, not an invasion” that will “be a game-changer” to strengthen the protesters and deter Iran’s leaders.

Trump has prided himself in following through when he has made threats, including the recent military raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as well as American strikes on Iran’s nuclear program last year during the so-called 12 day war between Iran and Israel.

"I think Trump will bomb them, because he said so," said a Republican foreign policy strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly about possible military action. The person added that likely targets if Trump is looking to send a message to Iran’s leaders would be regime symbols and oil infrastructure.

The regime over the weekend has stepped up repression and violence against protesters.

Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the U.S. should look to inhibit “the regime’s slaughter in the dark” by focusing on the government’s control over electricity and phone service.

If Trump were to choose to strike, he would likely consider Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and police and law enforcement targets, and even potentially leadership targets, though “that would take time,” said a former U.S. official who worked on Iran issues.

Non-kinetic measures would include cyber and covert action, though leadership strikes are the ones that would have the biggest impact, said the former U.S. official.

The current round of demonstrations in Iran began in late December over the collapse of Iran’s currency but have since intensified and morphed into a direct challenge to Iran’s theocratic government. Reports indicate at least 538 people have been killed amid a government crackdown on the demonstrations in Iran, though it has been hard to assess the full scale because Iran’s leaders have cut off internet and phone service. They are the largest protests since 2022, when Iranians took to the streets after a young woman died while imprisoned for not wearing a headscarf.

Trump has been following the protests closely since they began in December, U.S. officials said. He has telegraphed his interest in intervening several times on his Truth Social platform.

“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” he wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. He told reporters Friday that Iran’s leaders would be “in big trouble” if they suppress demonstrations and use lethal force. “If they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved,” he said while meeting oil executives at the White House.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the hard-line speaker of Iran's parliament, threatened during a parliament session carried live by Iranian state television that Israel and “all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets” if the U.S. attacks Iran. Iran’s Supreme Leader said Friday that Iran’s government will “not back down” amid the protests.

Former Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi, meanwhile, has attempted to position himself in recent weeks as a contender to lead the country through a democratic transition. Pahlavi has lived in exile in the United States since his father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran, was forced from power in 1979.

In an interview on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Pahlavi told Bartiromo that he was “prepared to return to Iran at the first possible opportunity,” sharing a message to Trump as he asked for U.S. support for a democratic transition.

“Let's hope that we can permanently seal this legacy by liberating Iran, so that we and you can make Iran great again,” Pahlavi said. “Let's partner on this and have a better future for our countries and for our people. This is an opportunity that has presented itself.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged the Trump administration to focus on “rallying the rest of the world” to escalate external pressure on the Iranian regime instead of executing a strike on the country.

“The Iranian regime is awful, and I stand with the Iranian people, but what I'm worried about is if we take a kinetic strike, does that actually unite the Iranian people in a way that the regime has not been able to?” Warner said in an interview with host Jacqui Heinrich on “Fox News Sunday.”

The administration also faced skepticism from members of its own party, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), echoing Warner’s concerns on Sunday. Paul warned that a strike on the country could lead Iranians to turn against the United States and rally around their own leadership.

“We wish freedom and liberation the best across the world, but I don't think it's the job of the American government to be involved with every freedom movement around the world, and I do believe that bombing them may have the opposite,” Paul told host Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week.”