{"id":235350,"date":"2026-01-13T07:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/235350\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T07:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:14:08","slug":"trump-puts-military-action-against-irans-protest-crackdown-on-standby-mode-slaps-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/235350\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump puts military action against Iran\u2019s protest crackdown on standby mode, slaps sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"

By&nbspJerry Fisayo-Bambi<\/a>&nbspwith&nbspAP<\/p>\n

\n Published on 13\/01\/2026 – 6:27 GMT+1
\n \u2022Updated
\n 7:06\n <\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump has been briefed on strong options as he weighs whether to order a US military response against the Iranian government over a violent crackdown on protests that have left more than 600 people dead, but is holding off for now after receiving messages from Tehran, the White House said on Monday.<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration finds the Islamic Republic is using deadly force against anti-government protesters, a red line Washington says Iran is \u201cstarting to cross\u201d and has left Trump and his national security team weighing \u201cvery strong options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Media reports indicate that Pentagon officials have discussed long-range missile attacks, as well as cyber operations and psychological campaign responses.<\/p>\n

According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump is also exploring messages from the Iranian regime officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you\u2019re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately, and I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, with that said, the president has shown he\u2019s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran,\u201d Leavitt told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n

Trump slaps 25 percent tariff on Iran trade partners<\/p>\n

The White House position on the protests came hours after Trump announced on social media that he would slap 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran \u201ceffective immediately\u201d\u2014his first action aimed at penalising Iran for the protest crackdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cEffective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,\u201d Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. \u201cThis Order is final and conclusive” he added.<\/p>\n

China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil and Russia are among the economies that do business with Tehran. The White House declined to offer further comment or details about the president\u2019s tariff announcement.<\/p>\n

And while there are scant details on Iran\u2019s outreach for talks, Leavitt confirmed that Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will be a key player engaging Tehran.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and key White House National Security Council officials began meeting Friday to develop a \u201csuite of options,\u201d from a diplomatic approach to military strikes, to present to Trump in the coming days, according to reports seen in US media.<\/p>\n

News about talks between Washington and Tehran first emerged on Sunday when Trump told reporters that a \u201cmeeting is being set up\u201d with Iranian officials but cautioned that \u201cwe may have to act because of what\u2019s happening before the meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re watching the situation very carefully,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

The demonstrations are the biggest Iran has seen in years\u2014protests spurred by the collapse of Iranian currency that have morphed into a larger test of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei\u2019s repressive rule.<\/p>\n

Now in their third week, the anti-government protests have seen more than 500 protesters <\/a>killed and almost 10,700 arrested, according to a US-based rights group. <\/p>\n

Iran, through the country\u2019s parliamentary speaker, has warned that the US military and Israel would be \u201clegitimate targets\u201d if Washington uses force to protect demonstrators, while the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has said Tehran is open to talks but remains “prepared for war.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By&nbspJerry Fisayo-Bambi&nbspwith&nbspAP Published on 13\/01\/2026 – 6:27 GMT+1 \u2022Updated 7:06 US President Donald Trump has been briefed on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[127706,54,42,87,127099,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-235350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-currency-crisis-in-iran","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-iran-sanctions","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}