Protests against its government have rippled through Iran since December 2025. The Iranian regime has cracked down on protesters with death tolls ranging from 5,000 to 36,500 as of mid-January, though it’s hard to know amid the internet blackout in the country.
In January, President Donald Trump threated military action against Iran, saying, "[an armada] is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary," assuming Iran doesn’t reach a "fair and equitable deal" with the US.
On Tuesday, the US shot down an Iranian drone in the Arabian Sea and Iranian gun boats attempted to stop a US tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Nuclear talks between the US and Iran are still tentatively set to take place in Turkey on Friday.
Voices on the left and right are united in supporting the protests of the Iranian people against their government, however those on the right are more likely to support regime change. Those on the left are more likely to criticize Trump’s approach to Iran as erratic and disapprove of military intervention, although some isolationists on the right also disapprove of American intervention.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board (Lean Right bias) advocated for regime change, saying, “There is a better way for President Trump: Help the protesters topple the ayatollah and his enforcers. Don’t crush the Iranian people’s hopes; give them the confidence to keep pushing against a regime that has no answer but bullets to any of their problems. If Iran’s revolutionary regime falls, the whole region gets better. China and Russia lose the third spoke in their axis of U.S. adversaries.”
“The price of oil is lower today than it was at the start of the 12-day war in June, and the U.S. has options to mitigate disruptions. Iran’s regime and its proxies are at their weakest, and its people are waiting. Mr. Trump has forged his opportunity, and this is his moment to seize it.”
A Bloomberg opinion (Lean Left) said, “Unfortunately, one possible explanation for the erratic nature of Trump’s statements on Iran is that he doesn’t have a defined endgame, or a well-considered plan for reaching it. After last year’s joint airstrikes with Israel and the successful US rendition of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from Caracas, he has unprecedented leverage that won’t last forever; he may just want to use it while he has it to get what he can…Or, to put that more crudely, Trump has found himself holding Thor’s hammer in the form of US military prowess and he’s in search of nails. The question is whether the kind of face-saving nuclear deal Khamenei’s envoys might be willing to make will satisfy the US president, or whether — having committed this much firepower to the region — he sets the bar too high and has to pull the trigger, without worrying about what comes next.”
A writer in the Washington Examiner (Lean Right) argued, “When Trump warned this week that Iran has been crossing red lines with its savage massacre of civilians, he was speaking with moral clarity. Iran has been crossing these lines for a long time. The Iranian dictatorship’s forces are trained to mow down ordinary people at the ayatollah’s request and even engage in horrific sexual violence (like gang rape and rape with objects) against female political prisoners.”
“The U.S. is both morally and strategically obligated to support a free Iran and to help end the ayatollah’s tyranny. For the millions of Iranians yearning to breathe free, and for America’s future well-being, we must act in our own interest to destroy our most determined and, in many ways, most dangerous foe. Supporting a free Iran is not just an Iranian issue. It is also an urgent American imperative.”
A Common Dreams (Left) opinion read, “Another Israeli or US attack out of the blue risks helping the Iranian regime politically by enabling it to appeal to patriotic and nationalist sentiment…An alternative view is that with the Iranian regime at least as weak as it has been for years, an armed attack from outside might constitute just enough extra pressure to precipitate the regime’s collapse. But the idea that the Islamic Republic is just one nudge away from falling has been voiced many times before, including during previous rounds of protests.”
Adding, “The Trump administration’s saber-rattling is not building such confidence but instead is having the opposite effect. The Iranian regime’s lethal response to the recent popular protests shows that it believes the regime’s survival depends on not showing any weakness in the face of pressures either domestic or foreign…A new US attack on Iran, besides being an act of aggression contrary to the United Nations Charter and international law, would only exacerbate rather than resolve any of the issues that have been raised as possible rationales for war.”
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