The situation in Iran – and the reaction to the protests in the United States and among the Iranian diaspora – is intensifying. Everyone is aware that President Trump is watching the situation.

With limited information getting out to the West, and what we do have is thanks to Elon Musk turning on Starlink for the Iranian people, the full scale of what is actually happening on the ground in Iran is hard to assess. We know that those protesting in the streets have been killed by the regime, but the numbers range wildly from 200 people to 500 people to 2000 people. We know that the protests are widespread across the whole country. We also know that President Trump has been getting information and feedback from those around him regarding what steps can be taken to support the Iranian people.

President Trump has been briefed in recent days on new options for military strikes in Iran as he considers following through on his threat to attack the country for cracking down on protesters, according to multiple U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Mr. Trump has not made a final decision, but the officials said he was seriously considering authorizing a strike in response to the Iranian regime’s efforts to suppress demonstrations set off by widespread economic grievances. The president has been presented with a range of options, including strikes on nonmilitary sites in Tehran, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations.

Senior U.S. officials said on Saturday that at least some of the options presented to Mr. Trump for the situation in Iran would be tied directly to elements of the country’s security services that are using violence to put down the growing protests.

At the same time, though, U.S. officials said they had to be careful that any military strikes did not have the opposite effect — galvanizing the Iranian public to support the government — or trigger a set of retaliatory strikes that could threaten U.S. military and diplomatic personnel in the region.

A senior U.S military official said that commanders in the region would want more time before any potential attack to consolidate U.S. military positions and prepare defenses for any possible retaliatory strikes by Iran.

U.S. officials said any military action would have to balance how to fulfill Mr. Trump’s promise to punish the government in Tehran if it cracked down on the protesters with not making the situation worse.

We all know that Iran is not out of reach for the United States. The question then becomes, exactly where is the “red line” for President Trump? He spoke briefly about Iran while on Air Force One on Sunday evening.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran is “starting to” cross U.S. red lines, citing reports of civilian deaths and warning that any attack on American interests would be met with overwhelming force as his administration weighs what he called “very strong options.”

Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling from Palm Beach, Florida, back to Washington, D.C., after being asked whether Iran had crossed a threshold that would trigger a response.

“They’re starting to, it looks like, and there seem to be some people killed that aren’t supposed to be killed,” the president said. “These are violent — if you call them leaders, I don’t know if their leaders or just if they rule through violence. And, we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination.”

Some protesters were killed in a stampede while others were shot, Trump later said, adding that he receives hourly briefings and will decide based on ongoing reports.

President Trump also said that Iran’s leadership wants to “talk,” but intervention may be required first.

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

We all know Trump loves a good chat with world leaders, but this smells of Iran stalling for time. It’s obvious that the ayatollah and his cronies are hoping to stamp out this protest and regain control again. But this time, neither Obama (who was famous for ignoring his supposed “red lines“) or Biden is president. This time, Donald Trump is president – and he’s already punched Iran in the mouth once during this term in office. The ayatollahs have to be considering what Trump may or may not do to them. It would be helpful for the American people to know where that “red line” is for the president this time. I understand keeping some strategic ambiguity in play, but exactly how many people have to be killed in Iran first? It’s not like Ayatollah Khamenei will publicly state that “we’ve killed a thousand people, come get us, Trump” or something like that.

And it’s not like the United Nations is going to do anything after decades of doing precisely nothing. Even the statements they are offering up are excessively pathetic.

I'm Iranian and I just like to say fuck off. Just shut the fuck up. We don't need your empty words. Go to hell.

— ثنا ابراهیمی | Sana Ebrahimi (@__Injaneb96) January 11, 2026

Anything that happens now will be solely up to President Trump. He has already said that “boots on the ground” is not on the table, so if the United States does intervene, it will likely be by air only. There is plenty of damage that can be done to military targets in that scenario. However, Iran is not like Venezuela, where there is a known and recognized opposition party at play, even if they do not have the support to take over the country. The exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, has not been in Iran in almost 50 years. While there are chants for his return, there is zero chance that he would be able to form and lead a stable government, even though he is openly encouraging the protesters. Pahlavi has appealed to President Trump, but the president has not immediately embraced him. Given the history of Iran over the last eighty years, and the story of a U-Haul truck driving through a pro-Iranian protest carrying anti-Shah messaging on Sunday evening, there seems to be a lot of “unknown unknowns” that cannot be simplified down for the average American watching the evening news.

Which means at this point, the average American is left wondering what President Trump will actually do. Foreign policy has been one of the greatest strengths of the Trump Administration 2.0, so at this point, we just have to let him cook. Iranians are fighting and dying to throw off the entrenched tyranny that they have lived under for decades. If President Trump can find a way to make that fight easier for them, then he will most likely take it at the right time. But the longer he waits, and the more reports of the regime murdering people in the streets come in, the more questions people will have about where that red line is at.

Featured image: official White House photo by Daniel Torok from June 21, 2025, cropped, public domain