For several days, Iranian protesters in the streets had put their lives on the line, resulting in a death toll of more than 2,400, with more than 18,000 people arrested, as reported by human rights organizations. But yesterday (Jan. 14), President Donald Trump announced that the killing in Iran has been halted, and so have the executions.
This came a day after a substantive briefing attended by the heads of the national security agencies to discuss options on how the United States could address the violence in Iran. Clearly, the endgame involves removing the brutal, oppressive theocracy and replacing it with a pro-Western, less hostile government.
Staggering Death Toll in Iran
As the number of Iranian citizens murdered grew, so did Trump’s urgency to end the killing. In a recent Truth Social post, the president offered hope to protesters that the United States would help: “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!!”
We know that Trump favors action over conversation. Recently, the State Department posted a video on X of Secretary of State Marco Rubio making President Trump’s intentions unmistakable. Rubio said, “The 47th President of the United States is not a game player when he tells you he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it.”
In an Iran update published on January 13, 2026, the Institute for the Study of War reported:
“Regime security forces have fired on crowds indiscriminately — in some cases with machine guns — and killed scores of citizens across numerous locations. Some Iranians who have bypassed the internet shutdown have reported very high volumes of dead protesters on the streets and in hospitals and morgues. Some reports alleged the presence of 700-1,000 dead protesters at just one morgue in Tehran, not accounting for other locations around the capital or the country overall.”
Although no US options discussed at the principals’ meeting have been made public, media sources following the events in Iran have offered alternatives the White House should consider. Robert Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security at the Heritage Foundation, explained in an article for The Daily Signal that options range from prompting the United Nations to issue an official condemnation of the Tehran regime, to sanctioning the travel of Iranian officials, to establishing an independent means of providing information into and out of Iran, to using military force putting at risk “those assets which are responsible for the munitions and the capabilities used to repress the population in the places where they have been killed.”
Economic Sanctions Tricky
The trick in applying more targeted financial sanctions is to avoid adding to the economic misery the beleaguered Iranian people are already experiencing. Make the sanctions personal, targeting the members of the Guardian Council and the Supreme National Security Council. Ensure Iranian officials can’t travel; freeze their bank accounts. An offensive cyber-attack on infrastructure critical to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has played a central role in the gunning down of protesters, would be an additional option. It would be a strong message to the theocratic thugs of what else could come.
The ruling regime has already imposed restrictions on workarounds to the internet blackout and other suppressed communications devices, further reducing the outside world’s ability to know exactly what is going on inside Iran. Trump has increased economic pressure on the regime. “On Monday [Jan. 12] evening, Trump announced 25% import tariffs on products from any country doing business with Iran — a major oil exporter,” Reuters reported.
Although there is an announced pause in the regime's deadly crackdown on protesters, planning for a response to Ayatollah Khamenei’s brutal campaign is in the works. If the killing recurs, it would be prudent for the Iranian government to remember Rubio’s words: When President Donald Trump “tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it.”
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The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
