File image.
President Trump has been briefed on a wide array of military and covert options against Iran that go well beyond conventional airstrikes, CBS News reported, as violent protests continued in the Islamic Republic.
The protests broke out on December 28 as a result of the worsening economic conditions in Iran, and turned violent on January 2 after Trump set a red line, vowing to punish the Iranian government if protesters are killed.
Trump renewed his threats on January 12, saying that Iran has begun to cross his red line, and that he has some “very strong” military options.
Later on the same day, CBS News reported, citing two Pentagon officials, that Trump was presented with options including “air power and long-range missiles,” in addition to others involving cyber operation options and psychological campaigns to “disrupt Iranian command structures, communications and state-run media.”
The officials told the news channel that cyber and psychological operations can occur simultaneously with traditional military force, in what military planners call integrated operations, or deployed as stand-alone options.
They also emphasized that no final decision had been made and that diplomatic channels with the Islamic Republic remain open.
Following the release of the report, Trump announced that countries that do business with Iran will have to pay a new 25% tariff.
“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” he wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “This Order is final and conclusive,” he added.
January 12, witnessed large pro-government gatherings all over Iran. However, overnight violent protests renewed in some areas, with reports of more casualties.
Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on January 13 that the death toll from the protests rose to 646, with 10,721 others arrested. However, an Iranian official told Reuters later in the day that around 2,000 people were killed, blaming “terrorists” for the deaths of civilians and security personnel.
Commenting on the situation, the Israel Defense Forces said that it remains on alert for possible “surprise scenarios” related to Iran.
IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin urged the public in Israel not to “lend a hand to rumors” about the ongoing protests in the Islamic Republic.
“The protests in Iran are an internal matter,” he said in a post on X on January 12.
He said the IDF is “prepared defensively” and continues to hold regular situational assessments, and that it will provide updates if there are any changes.
These remarks indicate that Israel, which waged war against Iran last June, will not be taking part in any U.S. operation against the Islamic Republic.
Despite all the escalation, Trump has shown openness to talks with Iran, and even said that the Islamic Republic reached out. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on January 12 that the president is “unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary,” but “diplomacy is always the first option.”
“What you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite [different] from the messages the administration is receiving privately,” she was quoted by CBS News as saying.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has already reached out to Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to engage in direct diplomatic talks, according to the channel.
Without a major shift in Iran’s current position with regard to its nuclear and missile program, any talks with the U.S. will not likely end in an agreement.
The two sides appear to be already too far apart on these issues. Adding to this the lack of any trust, an agreement seems impossible. The more likely scenario is that Trump will take some action against Iran, then attempt to impose his will on the Islamic Republic after further inflaming the protests there.
How Iran chose to respond will be essential for the future of the Islamic Republic. Any hesitation or attempts to wing time could bring down the government, and with that a civil war could break out considering that the opposition is too divided, both ideologically and ethnically, to quickly produce a unified functioning government.
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The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
death to khomeini !
down with the dictator !
death to the islamic regime !
my birthday wishlist : ayatollah khomeini must be killed as soon as possible
given his age, you’d better pay a fortune teller to cast a spell to make him have a heart attack in his sleep. or go to your family grave, light a black candle, and place a slaughtered white dove under a bouquet or wreath. and then ask your relatives nicely for help.
it will be cheaper.
recent months saw a large u.s. military build up in the caribbean, with socom deploying assists in puerto rico and near trinidad and tobago…………………………… https://psee.io/8jqu9r
director of the syrian observatory: what we are witnessing today, and what we witnessed previously in sheikh maqsoud, are full-fledged war crimes.
published on january 13, 2026
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director of the syrian observatory: what we are witnessing today, and what we witnessed previously in sheikh maqsoud, are full-fledged war crimes. but the one justifying these crimes is a terrorist who
appeared on syrian state television speaking about “national unity.” he claimed that the woman whose body was thrown from the balcony was, according to some takfiri fatwas, a sniper who killed 60 people. let him give us their names.
this is the same person who appeared on al arabiya/al hadath channel to say that the kurds in sheikh maqsoud and ashrafieh are “guests and settlers,” that the neighborhood was armenian and
syriac, and that the kurds settled there 50 years ago. in other words, according to his narrative, the defunct assad regime brought the kurds to these areas. don’t say that al-hijri requested and went to israel. instead, ask: when an area is besieged, strangled, and women are assaulted, what would drive al-hijri or anyone else to seek any way out?
after the massacres in sheikh maqsoud, the egyptian terrorist nicknamed “al-mansour” emerged. ahmed al-sharaa claimed he was imprisoned after attacking egypt from syria, but it later turned out he wasn’t. this confirms that we are dealing with a corrupt and terrorist regime.
international legitimacy will not benefit ahmed al-sharaa, because international legitimacy today is useless against local legitimacy. like the assad regime, ahmed al-sharaa is working to inflam
e sunni sectarian tensions. he is a president elected by marhaf abu qasra, abu hatem al-shaqra, the islamic army, and these factions.
today, they are heading to deir hafer, using and exploiting the term “pkk terrorists,” under the guidance of their turkish advisor. yesterday, kurds and honorable activists launched a campaign to prevent the airing of ahmed al-sharaa’s interview on shams tv, which broadcasts from erbil, so that he
wouldn’t appear on a kurdish channel to justify the massacres. the channel did indeed stop the broadcast.
we are witnessing a complete absence of media ethics and professionalism. we saw the turkish grey wolves in sheikh maqsoud sending their signals. the international community witnessed all the massacres committed, but unfortunately, some emotional individuals circulated a photo of a child who had
been abused years ago, claiming it was from the sheikh maqsoud neighborhood. a platform was then exploited to discredit the photo, and this same platform belongs to ahmed al-sharaa.
we will only accept a genuine international investigation, not a superficial one like the one conducted in the massacres of the coast and suwaida. we want an international investigation into all these massacres, and we—human rights activists—will work towards that, even if tom barrack or trump acknowledges it.
when ahmed al-sharaa was fighting with al-qaeda in iraq, we were organizing demonstrations in front of the syrian embassy in london to overthrow bashar al-assad. today, arab channels have specific agendas and broadcast only one narrative: that of the sana news agency.
there was a campaign led by muwaffaq zaidan and hamza al-mustafa, who only pay lip service to the syrian people’s diverse communities, while in practice they are complicit in their killing. today, there are military buildups in and around the aleppo countryside, with the interim government calling on civilians to leave in preparation for a military operation.
murhaf abu qasra is not part of the government. he, along with fahim issa, the deputy defense ministers, sultan murad, hamzat, and amshat, are all internationally sanctioned for their crimes in afrin and the syrian coast.
ahmed al-sharaa himself was responsible for jabhat al-nusra when it carried out suicide attacks in damascus and its countryside, homs, hama, and latakia. this is the “syrian army” we see today.
and then ahmed al-sharaa’s father comes out and says that syria is one country—meaning the arab state—ignoring the other communities, while violations are being committed against these communities in the coastal region, suwaida, and the neighborhoods of aleppo.
we are facing a real dilemma. the state and the factions affiliated with the ministry of defense are killing various groups, and the media is inciting violence in the areas east of the euphrates. before we blame these groups, the
government must be inclusive of all syrians.
the transitional government bears responsibility for everything happening in syria. when suwaida was overrun by ahmed al-sharaa’s forces, who were armed with weapons, who was the real culprit?
ahmed al-sharaa has sold himself to the west and israel, offering nothing to the syrian people. as for the remnants of the old regime, they are all under his protection, and he accuses those who kill them of being remnants of the old regime.
reference: sohr
trump and putin’s gangs will scream help when the world chases away the darkness.
trump can build a thousand new prisons but he and his supporters will end up in them.
the deals with human lives will be exposed and trump will be proven to have collaborated with russia and committed high treason. it doesn’t matter if putin betrays iran after syria, serbia, armenia and venezuela. the world will banish evil and darkness, and putin and trump will pay for all the kille
ayatollah khomeini is the real dickheaded coward using violent force to publicly opress and do cold blood murder of thousands of persians of all ages, both young and old, women and children
death to the dictator! death to khomeini ! death to the islamic regime ! 🖕
both dump and the ayatollah should be judged by their own people according to gaddafi’s method and the method of the old yugoslav partisans led by milka planinc born in drniš. putler, ayatollah, erdogan and dump would deserve to be raped in the ass by a crazy granny with a rifle (bewtwen shot in anus) and left in the jungle.
stop whining and better ask yourself why the syrian army went to throw down their arms and hat a bunch of western-sponsored headchoppers take over their country.
when a dictator massacres his own people, the blood of thousands upon thousands of persians are spilled in his hands.
he will either end up being hanged publicly in the streets or getting blowed on a jewish holiday.
death to khomeini !
death to the dictator !
down with the islamic regime !
free persia !
death to ayatollah “the asshole” khomeini
even phlavi wouldn’t solve iran’s overpopulation.
the’d need mao zedong.
i will pray for all three of them, ayatollah, putler, erdogan and dump, to have a heart attack in their sleep. these criminals have been living for too long.
putler, khomeini, erdog. the three stooges of dickheaded dicktators. fourth will be kim jong un the north korean clown
the pussies and piglets putler and pezeshkian deserve to be rifle-raped and shot in the ass by their own army.
a good khomeini is a dead khomeini publicly paraded in the streets of tehran
the old jerk will most likely die in bed. i would like the successor to hate russia and send the revolutionary guard to mister hero and comandante zaluzny for cannon fodder. since the assassination of hero, mister, comandante and man soleimani by dump, ordinary whores are only capable of chasing dogs and women.
say sf, what do you can people who burn mosques with people trapped in them? wonderful fantastic patriots? what do you call muslims that burn the quran? millions of people in the street supporting the gov and country and you quote bullshit from u.s.? careful your face is starting to show. “terrorists” ? really? as if those fomenting, shooting and killing just happen? 25% tariff? what a laugh. no one pays attention to tramp and his nazis.
and at least try to get rid of these lying fucking zionist pos that you have on this board. oh, they’re here, saying all sorts of crap, but we get censored?…for the truth?
ayatollah khomeini is the real dickheaded coward using violent force to publicly opress and do cold blood bloodbath of thousands of persians of all ages, both young and old, women and children, and left their dead bodies on the streets
death to the dictator! death to khomeini ! death to the islamic regime ! 🖕
khomeini’s bitter death will be the the grandest glory for all iranians. that day will come swiftly!
death to the dictator! death to khomeini! down with the islamic regime! 🖕🖕🖕
southfront.press is a peddler of islamic terrorism
they are russian ***s that own all of the media inside moscow just like in manhattan and washington d.c. fyi zman… when i voted you “up” i got 2 vote(s) for 1. but rest assured it will go back to “1” momentarily.
again the dogs of the jews
the most ridiculous part is that israel has nothing to do with any of this. now, after they start their internal meddling , which is a fail, they want to look like they’re not part of it. talk about fucking lying cowards. they will get the orange war monger to do all their dirty work because they are the cowards they are. all their big talk and threats come down to ‘my big brother will beat you up’. typical israeli shit, cowards to the end. iran should vaporize tel aviv just for kicks.
ayatollah khomeini is the real dickheaded coward using violent force to publicly opress and do cold blood murder of thousands of persians of all ages, both young and old, women and children
death to the dictator! death to khomeini ! death to the islamic regime ! 🖕
i sent 3 compton mulattos to jizzify mia cuz psychiatrist fired him
sf couldn´t clean this messy zio-amerikunts in the “forum”
very “professionals”…
russia is a poodle of the west!
iran wipe out nadzi musk starlink…
or better
china did it!
also is close to nuclear fusion reactors!
chinese weapons will be powered by nuclear fusion!
cry until you can!
the end is near western motherfuckers!
death to khomeini
death to putin
down with the dictator
death to the islamic totalitarian regime!
communism will win in the end…
china domination is inevitable…
50 westoid countries can´t defeat state capitalist russia…
imagine a war with china…
and russia will become communist again!
communists do it better!
communism is a failed ideological like putin
if the iranian govt is overthrown the us & israel will destroy all their military capacity in the confusion, then attack them at leisure and set the different factions to fight each other with small arms, that’s what they did in syria and libya. most of those in the west opposed to iran want it’s destruction, not development. evolution not revolution is a better path i think.
everyone who talks to trump gets screwed and then choked to death
iran is broke and reportedly millions are now in the streets so its not looking good for khamenei and his mullahs
iran has managed to kill a good number of those mossad-trained terrorists, that’s why dump is so angry. :d