President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned for over a week now that the U.S. military will strike Iran again if the violent crackdowns on protests across the country continue. And he has been briefed on his military options against Tehran. What he will ultimately decide to do, and whether any operation he might order will tip the scales decisively in favor of the defiant but outgunned protests, remains to be seen.
Trump was briefed in recent days on the military options available to him against Iran. Those options included strikes against nonmilitary sites in Tehran, The New York Times reported Saturday. According to that report, Trump hasn’t made the final decision to strike yet.
The president has warned since early January that the U.S. is ready to attack Iran if it kills peaceful protesters. The ongoing protests began in late December amid the country’s dire economic crisis. They swiftly grew into an enormous uprising against the theocratic Islamic Republic that has ruled over Iran since 1979. Trump’s first warning against Iran came mere hours before the U.S. military raided Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, and seized President Nicolas Maduro, a close ally of Tehran.