Trump administration draws up preliminary plans for possible Iran strike: Report
Washington: The Trump administration is reportedly preparing preliminary plans for a potential attack on Iran, including options for large-scale airstrikes on multiple military targets amid the ongoing protests in the Islamic Republic, according to insiders cited by the Wall Street Journal.
Officials are said to be discussing how to implement President Donald Trump’s recent threats against the Islamic Republic, including identifying possible sites to be targeted. One option under consideration involves a massive aerial strike campaign, though there is currently no consensus in Washington on a specific course of action.
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The sources told the Wall Street Journal that no US military equipment or personnel have been repositioned for a potential attack. They emphasised that the discussions do not mean the United States will necessarily carry out a strike, describing the planning process as routine contingency preparation.
The reported deliberations come amid escalating rhetoric from Trump over unrest in Iran. On Saturday, the US President said Washington was ready to support the Iranian people as protests spread across the country.
He wrote on Truth Social: "Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!"
Also read: What’s driving Iran’s protests and why authorities cut internet and phone access across the country
Trump also reshared a post by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham responding to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement that "The United States supports the brave people of Iran".
Graham wrote: "Well said Rubio. This is truly not the Obama administration when it comes to standing up to the Iranian ayatollah and his religious Nazi henchmen, and standing behind the people of Iran protesting for a better life. To the regime leadership: your brutality against the great people of Iran will not go unchallenged. Make Iran Great Again".
Earlier on Friday, Trump said the situation in Iran was being monitored closely and warned of US retaliation if protestors were harmed.
"Iran's in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible. We're watching the situation very carefully. I made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved. We will be hitting them very hard where it hurts, and that doesn't mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very hard where it hurts so we don't want that to happen," he said.
He added, "But this is something pretty incredible that is happening in Iran. It's an amazing thing to watch. They've done a bad job, they have treated their people very badly, and now they are being paid back, so let's see what happens. We are watching it very closely".
On the safety of protestors, Trump said: "I just hope the protestors in Iran are going to be safe because it is a very dangerous place right now and again I tell the Iranian leaders you better not start shooting because we'll start shooting too".
Protests in Iran have recently evolved from demonstrations over rising living costs into a broader nationwide movement calling for the end of the Islamic Republic, which has ruled the country since the 1979 revolution.
Meanwhile, the death toll in violence surrounding the demonstrations reached at least 116 people killed, activists said.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency gave the new figure, saying arrests had reached more than 2,600 people as well. The agency has been accurate in multiple rounds of unrest previously.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signalled a coming clampdown, despite US warnings from Trump that America could intervene to protect peaceful demonstrators.