As Iran tightens crackdown on protests, Trump weighs possible strikes on regime targets in support of protesters

As protests continued in the capital city of Tehran, and across Iran on Saturday night, reports from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal indicate that U.S. President Trump is seriously weighing military intervention in support of the protesters. 

The protests, which started on Dec. 28 in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, as the shop owners and merchants (called bazaaris in Iran) protested the dramatic decline in the country’s currency, soon spread to other cities, and other groups, becoming an anti-regime protest movement. Protests occurred in over 100 cities over the weekend. 

Last week, after failing to curb the protests in its initial attempts, which involved distinguishing between “legitimate” protests by the bazaaris and “illegitimate” protests by those tired of the regime, the Iranian government cut off internet access almost entirely across the country, ahead of harsh crackdowns.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, the death toll in the brutal crackdown has reached at least 116 people as of Saturday night, and over 2,600 have been detained. Activists in Iran say most of those deaths happened after the government cut internet access last Thursday.  

⚠️ Update: #Iran's internet blackout is now past the 60 hour mark as national connectivity levels continue to flatline around 1% of ordinary levels.

The censorship measure presents a direct threat to the safety and wellbeing of Iranians at a key moment for the country's future. pic.twitter.com/QoEREOlxj0

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 11, 2026

Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi again called on the people to continue the protest movement. Early Saturday morning, he told the protesters, “Our goal is no longer merely to come to the streets; the goal is to prepare for seizing the centers of cities and holding them.” 

هم‌میهنان عزیزم،

شما با شجاعت و ایستادگی خود، تحسین جهانیان را برانگیخته‌اید. حضور دگرباره و پرشکوه‌تان در خیابان‌های سراسر ایران در شامگاه جمعه، پاسخی دندان‌شکن به تهدیدهای رهبر خائن و جنایتکار جمهوری اسلامی بود. یقین دارم که او این تصاویر را از مخفیگاهش دیده و از وحشت لرزیده… pic.twitter.com/MaQDiwkXRL

— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) January 10, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump also renewed his previous promise to intervene on behalf of the protesters if the regime began shooting its citizens, writing to Truth Social on Saturday, “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!” 

President Trump’s promise to help came as the Iranian military said it would join the crackdown against the protests on Saturday, saying it would “firmly safeguard national interests, strategic infrastructure, and public property.” 

The military said that Israel and “terror groups” were behind the demonstrations, and promised to “thwart the enemy’s plots.” 

The Saudi news site Al Ain reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has activated so called “missile cities” underground in preparation for a possible attack on U.S. or Israeli targets. 

It cited a “senior Iranian official” who said that, "All the missile cities, which were deliberately preserved during the 12-day war, are now at the highest level of readiness.” 

While the exact type of intervention being planned by the U.S. government in Iran is not known, The New York Times reported on Saturday, that Trump had been briefed on options for military strikes in Iran, including possible strikes on “nonmilitary sites in Tehran.” 

However, the U.S. president said any military action would not involve “boots on the ground.” 

“I’ve made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved,” Trump reiterated to reporters on Friday, while meeting with oil executives regarding the situation in Venezuela. “We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts. So we don’t want that to happen.” 

Meanwhile some Iranians are looking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not President Trump, for help against the regime. Several Iranian accounts on social media contained calls for Israel to strike, as it did during the 12-day Israel-Iran War in June.

In a message on Friday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed that the regime would “not back down” in the face of protests, and promised to continue the crackdowns. 

Meanwhile, Israel is on high alert for the possibility of attacks in the event the U.S. decides to intervene in Iran, Walla News reported, citing three sources “familiar with the details.” 

On Saturday, several people in Israel received text messages in English on their cell phones reading, “We are coming. Look at the sky in the midnight.” Israeli security officials believe the messages are part of a psychological warfare campaign being conducted by hackers affiliated with the Iranian regime, Walla reported on Saturday evening.

While the Israeli government has not yet issued any public warnings to the population to prepare for a possible Iranian attack, security officials believe that any military action by the U.S. in Iran could lead to a retaliatory strike on both U.S. sites in the Middle East, and attacks on Israel. 

On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, possibly related to the situation in Iran, although officials did not issue any readout of the call.