After declaring that Iran is in “big trouble” and close to crossing a red line over its crackdown on anti-government protests, President Donald Trump’s national security team was expected to brief Tuesday on its options for intervention in the Islamic Republic.
A U.S. official tells ABC News that among the options being considered are new sanctions against key regime figures or against Iran’s energy or banking sectors.
In an online post on Monday, Trump said he was already prepared to impose a 25% tariff against “any country that does business with Iran” on “any and all business done with the United States of America.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt listens as President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he flies on Air Force One toward Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Jan. 11, 2026.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
Former U.S. officials say other options likely to reach the president’s desk would range from large-scale military strikes to more targeted strikes against specific Iranian leaders or police infrastructure that have helped the Iranian government allegedly violently quell protests.
The United States is also likely to consider cyberattacks against the government, as well as online “influence operations” aimed at boosting protesters’ messages online and undermining the Iranian government.
“I think one thing that President Trump is very good at is always keeping all of his options on the table and airstrikes would be one of the many, many options on the table for the commander in chief. Diplomacy is always the first option for the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.
At the same time, Leavitt said the Iranian regime’s public messages are different from the private messages communicated to the White House. “I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages. However, that being said, the president has shown that he is not afraid to use military options when he deems it necessary,” Leavitt added.
Mick Mulroy, an ABC News contributor who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East at the Pentagon, said the president will likely receive an intelligence assessment on the impact of a direct military strike and whether it could lead to regime change.
“I think if they decided to move forward [on a military strike] “It will focus on specific objectives of the regime to control or oppress protests,” he said. That would include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Basij forces or other internal security elements, he said, who have been blamed for the protesters’ deaths.
Leavitt said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is negotiating directly with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Araghchi had said on Monday that Iran is “prepared” for a war with the United States but also open to diplomatic negotiations.
In this image taken from images circulating on social media from Iran, protesters are shown once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite intensifying repression as the Islamic Republic remains isolated from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
The Associated Press
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the communication channel between Araghchi and Witkoff “remains open” and “when necessary, messages are exchanged through that channel,” in remarks made during a televised meeting in Tehran.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff speaks with ABC News while appearing on This Week, May 18, 2025.
ABC News
He added that “certain points and ideas have been put forward by the other side,” referring to the United States. Last Friday, amid reports of the deaths of protesters in Iran, Trump told reporters that Iran was in “big trouble” and that the government in Tehran “better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
“We will hit them very hard where it hurts the most. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts the most,” he added.
Aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, Trump said Iranian officials had called him over the weekend to negotiate and indicated that a possible meeting was in the works. “They want to negotiate. I think they are tired of being beaten by the United States,” he added. “We may meet with them. I mean, a 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,” Trump said.
Among those expected to brief the president on Tuesday are Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The State Department said Rubio spoke by phone this weekend with his counterparts in France and Cyprus to discuss the ongoing protests in Iran. Rubio also spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about events unfolding in Iran, an Israeli official told ABC News.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil company executives in the East Room of the White House in Washington, January 9, 2026.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
The State Department has been posting in Farsi in recent days on X, including a message warning Tehran: “Don’t play games with President Trump.” But experts say Trump is less likely to consider another major military operation in Iran than other options because of the risks involved.
There are currently 30,000 US troops deployed in the Middle East and Persian Gulf region, including 2,500 in Iraq and 1,000 in Syria. The Pentagon will likely want to move additional assets to the area to help protect those troops against potential retaliatory attacks.
There are six Navy ships in the region, including three guided missile destroyers that would be capable of defending troops against ballistic missile threats.
There are currently no aircraft carriers in either the Middle East or Europe, and the USS Gerald Ford and its strike group are currently in the Caribbean Sea after being moved there from the Mediterranean to help conduct operations in Venezuela.
ABC News’ Steve Beynon contributed to this report.
