JERUSALEM, Israel – Protests are again spreading inside Iran as President Trump weighs whether to launch a military strike while defending his top general. The Tehran regime is facing pressure from both its own people and the United States.
For the third straight day, students are defying the regime, and more loudly than before. This time at the all-female Al-Zahra University. Students chanted in Farsi, “For each person killed, a thousand stand behind them.”
The demonstrations follow memorials marking 40 days since the government cracked down on anti-government protestors, killing tens of thousands of Iranians during anti-government uprisings in January. Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports that similar protests erupted at five universities across the capital since Saturday.
Iranian anti-regime protesters received a mass text message saying Trump is “a man of action,” and called on them to wait, according to the IRNA.
The message comes as the president contemplates striking Iran after issuing a ten-day ultimatum last Thursday. Posting on social media on Monday, Trump warned, “If we don’t make a deal, it will be a very bad day for that country and, very sadly, its people.”
In the same post, Trump denied reports about Joint Chiefs Chairman Daniel Caine being against military action. Calling reports about General Caine “fake news,” Trump posted that “he only knows one thing, how to WIN, and if he is told to do so, he will be leading the pack.”
However, according to The Wall Street Journal, General Caine warned Trump that a prolonged conflict “could incur significant costs to U.S. forces and national stockpiles.”
The president responded, noting, “General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won.”
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In the Middle East, U.S. Air Force refueling tankers were spotted at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, as the military buildup continues. Reports indicate that Iran has deployed Revolutionary Guard units along its southern coastline.
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Knesset on Monday, telling members that Israel is ready.
“No one knows what the future holds. We are vigilant, we are prepared for any scenario,” Netanyahu declared. “I passed on and clarified to the regime of the Ayatollahs that if they make perhaps the gravest mistake in their history and attack the State of Israel, we will respond with a force they cannot even imagine.”
Iran responded with warnings of its own. Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, stated, “An act of aggression would be regarded as an act of aggression, period. And any state would react to an act of aggression as part of its inherent right of self-defense, ferociously. So that’s what we would do.”
Could war with Iran be averted? Another round of talks is confirmed for Thursday in Geneva, according to Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi. He posted that there is “a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalizing the deal.”
