...
By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
President Donald Trump has warned he is weighing up "strong options" in response to Iran's crackdown on protests, raising the prospect of military intervention in the Islamic Republic.
However, experts have told Newsweek there are other options for Trump, including further sanctions, more diplomatic isolation, as well as cyber and informational measures. "Trump’s response will not be confined to a single track," Zineb Riboua, research fellow at the Hudson Institute told Newsweek.
...
Read More on News
U.S. Military Strikes
Protests started in Iran on December 28 sparked by the collapse of the nation's rial currency. Authorities initially refrained from violence but a crackdown has gathered pace and the unrest has spread throughout the country with the death toll reaching 544 on Monday, according to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA).
Trump has repeatedly warned that a violent crackdown by Tehran could be met with U.S. intervention in a warning that carries weight following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro and the strikes he ordered against Iranian nuclear facilities in June. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that Tehran did not plan pre-emptive military action but was fully prepared for war if attacked.
Trump has not revealed the nature of potential strikes against Iran or the military options he is considering, but Aurélien Colson, academic co-director of the ESSEC Institute for Geopolitics & Business, told Newsweek Trump’s warnings should be read primarily as strategic signaling rather than immediate preparation for direct military intervention.
A full-scale U.S. strike on Iranian territory, either on land or at sea, or a Maduro-type focused raid, would risk a broader regional conflagration, Colson said, adding that "any intervention on Iranian soil would, in all likelihood, strengthen hard-liners in Tehran, precisely the opposite of what Washington would want."
Buğra Süsler, visiting fellow at the London School of Economics think tank LSE IDEAS told Newsweek that military action may weaken parts of the Iranian regime but it may also risk intensifying crackdowns under the banner of national security.
"There is also a danger of fueling wider regional escalation if U.S. military or commercial assets are drawn into the conflict, or if the conflict expands to involve Israel," Süsler said.
...
Cyber Measures
Iran’s authorities have cut the internet, resorting to its playbook of trying to cut off communication between people to quell the protests one way, repeating a move that it carried out during previous nationwide unrest, such as in 2022 and 2019.
Trump said he would try to get the support of Elon Musk, whose SpaceX offers a satellite internet service Starlink that has been used in Iran.
Gregg Roman, executive director from the Middle East Forum, a U.S. think tank, told Newsweek that the internet was key to Trump enabling the Iranian people in their protests. "This isn't about American boots on the ground, it's about ensuring Iranians can communicate, organize, and document what's happening," said Roman, "when the regime shuts down the internet, we should have answers. The technology exists; the question is political will."
Meanwhile, Riboua, from the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East said that there is a parallel between Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's actions and those of Maduro before he was ousted.
"Maduro’s televised bravado during periods of U.S. military escalation produced no leverage, in fact, it produced capture," she said, "Khamenei now mirrors the same logic. He turns to social media, casting Trump as a fading figure, failing to grasp that under Trump, words carry consequences."
Sanctions
Trump restored in March a full "maximum pressure" framework which was aimed at "denying Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon, and countering Iran’s malign influence abroad."
Iran’s economy has been hit hard by snapback sanctions imposed by the United Nations in September meaning that further measures could increase the pressure on Tehran’s rulers. Roman said that it was important for Trump to maintain this economic pressure. "The rial is at 1.65 million to the dollar. Inflation is devastating ordinary Iranians while the IRGC hoards resources. Sanctions work, but only if they're enforced," he said.
Negotiations, Help from Allies and a Deal
Trump might try to flex his deal-making credentials with Iran instead of a risky military intervention. In a paper published January 9, Trita Parsi, co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft wrote Trump is more likely to explore a deal—either with Tehran directly or inside the existing power structure—“than gamble on regime collapse."
This would be akin to his approach with Venezuela in which he tried to get leverage over a weakened government without triggering total state breakdown.
However, Roman said that Tehran is not a reliable negotiating partner, and that any diplomatic engagement must come from a position of strength and there was a need to coordinate with allies. "Israel demonstrated in June 2025 that Iran's military is far weaker than its rhetoric suggests," Roman said, "any serious Iran policy must account for the fact that our regional partners have both the capability and the will to act."
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines