Donald Trump has been briefed on options for potential strikes on Iran after he said he was ‘ready to help’ protesters facing a crackdown from the Ayatollah’s regime.
The president has not yet made a decision on whether to fire on the Islamic Republic, but sources close to him told the New York Times he is considering authorizing a strike in response to the regime’s brutal suppression of the demonstrations.
Iranians have been taking to the streets in the thousands in Tehran to revolt against the theocracy for triggering the economic crisis, fueled by rampant hyperinflation.
Officials told the Times Trump has been presented with several options, including strikes on nonmilitary sites in the Iranian capital.
Sources also told the Wall Street Journal the president would be speaking with advisors again on Tuesday about potentially deploying secret cyber weapons against the Iranian military, and issuing more sanctions on the regime.
It comes as hundreds of protesters are feared to have been killed by security forces in Iran this weekend as the regime’s religious dictatorship brutally fights for its survival.
Fanatical leaders declared that anyone joining the protests will be considered an ‘enemy of God’, punishable by death. One woman told CNN she had seen bodies ‘piled up’ at a hospital.
Meanwhile, Iran has warned Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US military and Israel would be ‘legitimate targets’ if the US strikes Tehran.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf gave the warning in a speech to parliament in the Iranian capital, while lawmakers shouted ‘death to America’.
‘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.
‘We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.’
President Trump last week warned Iran would ‘get hit very hard’ if it repeated the mass killings of previous uprisings.
In a post on his Truth Social network on Saturday, he said: ‘Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!’ It was reported last night that the White House has held ‘preliminary discussions’ on plans for a potential strike against Iran.
The State Department separately warned: ‘Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.’
Trump previously struck three nuclear facilities in Iran during Operation Midnight Hammer on June 22, 2025.
The US Air Force used B-2 Spirit stealth bombers while the Navy launched Tomahawk missiles from submarines, together striking the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Natanz Nuclear Facility, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult.
But the death toll in the protests has grown, while 2,600 others have been detained, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Those abroad fear the information blackout will embolden hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown, despite warnings from Trump he’s willing to strike Iran to protect peaceful demonstrators.
It remains unclear just how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after seeing its air defenses destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel.
Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The US military has said in the Mideast it is ‘postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and US. interests.’
Iran targeted US forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar back in June, while the US. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.
Israel, meanwhile, is ‘watching closely’ the situation, between the US and Iran, said an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to journalists.
Netanyahu spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio overnight on topics including Iran, the official added.
