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United States President Donald Trump is weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces and leaders to inspire protesters, Reuters reported on January 29, citing multiple sources.
Earlier this month, Trump threatened military action if Iran killed protesters or carried out mass executions of prisoners, but he backed down soon after, claiming the Islamic Republic halted the hangings of 800 detainees. Still, he ordered the deployment of additional U.S. military assets into the Middle East, including the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.
Two U.S. sources familiar with the discussions told the news agency that Trump wanted to create conditions for “regime change”.
According to the sources, he is looking at options to hit commanders and institutions that Washington holds responsible for the violence, to give protesters the confidence that they could overrun government and security buildings.
One of the sources also said the options being discussed also included a much larger strike intended to have a lasting impact, possibly against the nuclear or ballistic missile programs.
The other source noted, however, that Trump has not yet made a final decision on a course of action, including whether to order a strike.
A separate report by CNN revealed that U.S. and Iranian officials earlier this month discussed organizing a meeting with no success.
Washington set some serious demands to Tehran, according to the network, including a permanent end to the Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment, new limits on its ballistic missile program, and a stop to its support for regional proxy forces.
Iran agreed to hold talks with the U.S. on its nuclear program, but refused all demand related to the missile program, sources told CNN.
One of the sources said that Trump’s preferred scenario would be that a swift, powerful strike force Tehran to accept the demands.
Amid these discussions within the Trump administration, Washington witnessed separate meetings involving senior defense and intelligence officials from Israel and Saudi Arabia. According to Axios, the meetings centered around potential U.S. strikes on Iran.
The U.S. news website said that Israeli officials, including the military’s Intelligence Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, are sharing intelligence on potential targets in Iran, whereas the Saudis are trying to head off a war through diplomatic means. Binder met senior Pentagon, CIA and White House officials on January 27 and 28, two U.S. officials told Axios.
Meanwhile, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman — younger brother of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — is meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff on January 29 and 30.
The Saudi crown prince told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during a phone call earlier this week that Riyadh would not allow its airspace or territory to be used for military actions against Tehran.
All recent reports indicate that talks between the U.S. and Iran are very much stuck, and that Trump is once again planning to escalate.
While the arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East earlier this week boosted U.S. military capabilities in the region. The size of the current military deployment is not enough to launch a strike powerful enough to seriously weaken Tehran, let alone to overthrow the government there.
The decision to strike Iran is either still weeks away, as more military assets should be deployed, or there is already an agreement on Israel joining in.
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usa is definitely going to suffer losses when they decide to attack
73,600 palestinians have been killed in gaza, the majority were women, children and the elderly. israel refuses to allow them a separate state, these are their own people. if anywhere needs a regime change, it’s israel not iran.
“as talks fail” what a farce. iranian regime aren’t being head faked again like last time. they know talks with the judeo masons is 100% useless. israel has been targeting iran for 30+ years and the us even longer.
the fake jews have target palestine since before wwii, the first export of german nazis was done before the war. a fake jew, and a nazi are exactly the same thing. the balfour declaration was made 1917, by the masters of white colonialism, the british. it was made by a cannibal, a rothschild khazar. he simply demanded occupation of a foreign land, for the imposters, and of course, by that, him self.
aircraft carriers and their