The U.S. and Iran have traded threats, and Trump warns the U.S. may step in if Iran kills protesters. (Getty Images)
Daniel Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said Washington should move quickly to expand internet access for demonstrators and prepare for potential political change.
"Support protesters with internet access and prepare now to advise and assist in a transition," Shapiro wrote on X.
Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued that Washington has options short of direct military action.
"The two most powerful things the U.S. and close partners can do without military involvement is facilitate secure information flow to the protesters and blind the security forces," Goldberg wrote on X, adding that while Trump has suggested a kinetic approach, non-kinetic options remain available.
Human rights groups have reported between five and eight killings linked to the recent unrest, along with more than 30 people injured and over 100 arrested as demonstrations spread to dozens of cities across the country.
The White House did not specify what form any intervention might take. Past U.S. responses to unrest in Iran have typically been limited to sanctions and other non-kinetic measures, but Trump has recently shown a willingness to authorize direct military action, including strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, operations against ISIS in Nigeria following reports of mass killings of Christians and actions targeting alleged narco-traffickers near Venezuela.
Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, Dec. 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency)
Trump made that position explicit when asked whether he would support another Israeli attack on Iran.
"If they continue with the missiles? Yes. The nuclear? Fast. One will be, ‘Yes, absolutely’; the other will be, ‘We’ll do it immediately,’" Trump said.
Since the end of the fighting, Iranian officials and state-linked media have signaled a push to restore and expand the country’s ballistic missile capacity, even as damage from the war disrupted production sites, launch infrastructure and supply chains. Western and Israeli officials have warned that Tehran is attempting to reconstitute missile forces as quickly as possible to reestablish deterrence and signal resilience after the strikes.
Trump reiterated Washington’s position earlier this week during a meeting with Netanyahu, warning that Iran would face renewed strikes if it attempted to restore prohibited capabilities.
Analysts say the convergence of internal unrest and external pressure places Tehran in a volatile position, increasing the risk of miscalculation even if none of the major players is actively seeking a new war.
Despite damage to its defenses, Iran retains the ability to retaliate indirectly through missile launches or proxy attacks, tactics it has used in past confrontations to raise costs for the U.S. and Israel without triggering full-scale conflict.
U.S. defense officials have not announced changes to American force posture in the region, though U.S. troops and assets remain on heightened alert following the June war.
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The conflict severely damaged Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure and killed senior military commanders and nuclear scientists, while Iranian missile attacks killed 28 people in Israel. Iran’s response to subsequent U.S. strikes was limited, with missiles fired at a U.S. airbase in Qatar after advance warning was given.
That relative calm is now under strain as Iran confronts its most serious internal unrest since the war and Trump signals a lower threshold for U.S. intervention, a combination that risks turning a fragile pause into another flashpoint.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/iran-crackdown-rattles-middle-east-analysts-weigh-us-options-short-military-intervention