LOS ANGELES (OC).–Sending the Abraham Lincoln carrier task force to the Mediterranean to get within striking distance of Iran, President Donald Trump made good on his warning to Iran’s 96-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump warned Khamenei about slaughtering young protesters taking to the streets to rebel against the 47-year-old mullah regime that has repressed the population since the 1979 Iranian Revolution where Shiite Islamic radicals drove Shah Reza Mohammad Pahlavi from power. Iranian youth periodically convulse of riots to protest the mullah regime only to find a brutal crackdown, no different from Hitler’s Germany or Mao Zedong’s China. Trump told Iranian publically to keep protesting, saying that help was on the way, though never said exactly what that means. Trump said Iran contacted him wanting to make a deal on its nuclear program.
Whether Iran is sincere about anything or really wants to make a deal, that’s independent to today’s violent street protests where Revolutionary Guards or Basij miliita have been massacring and rounding up thousands of protesters. Trump said he wouldn’t let the Ayatollah get away with such naked violence against his own people. “They want to make a deal,” Trump said, not sure whether it was diversion from the ongoing crackdown. Human rights groups estimate based on counted body bags that the regime has already slaughtered 5,848 protesters rounding up thousands more, without anyone knowimg their fates. Israel’s Mossad Security Service estimates about 35,000 deaths, but, like the 5,848 number, it’s hard to verify. Trump hasn’t decided what, if anything, he would do to stop the Ayatollah from killing more young protesters looking to end mullah rule.
Trump said Iran wants to make a deal on what’s left of its uranium enrichment program, something Israel and the U.S. bombed into oblivion June 2025. “They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. The want to talk,” Trump said, not saying why he sent the Abraham Lincoln carrier group back to the Mediterranean. When it comes to the ongoing slaughter of young Iranians, Trump knows the Ayatollah wants to buy himself time while he maintains law-and-order. Trump called the situation “in-flux,” meaning that he could order strikes on the regime at any time for its massacre of street protesters. Trump called the carrier group “a big armada next to Iran. Bigger than Venezuela where he staged an anti-narco-trafficking operation, arresting former Venezuela President Nicloas Maduro and his wife Cilia Adela Flores, both charged with narco-terrorism.
Considering all his options, Trump has a lot on his plate with his immigration policy in shambles after ICE agents recently killed two American citizens, prompting street protests in Menneapolis and around the country. When it comes to Iran, Trump has no good options to make a statement against the Ayatollah’s regime that continues to crack down on pro-democracy protesters. “We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said “We have a big flotiall going towards Iran. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely,” serving notice to the Ayatollah that his regime is threatened it he doesn’t stop the bloody crackdown of street protesters. Human Rights Activities News Agency [HRANA] said the regime already killed nearly 6,000 protesters maybe a lot more. Trump promised the Iranian people he would help.
Trump has some big decisions to make if he doesn’t get Iran to cease-and-desist on the killing of young street protesters. Today’s young people in Iran only heard from their grandparents about what was life once under the Shah. Shah’s son Reza Pahlavi said he was ready to return to Iran to herald in a new democratic regime, ending 47 years of strict Shiite rule. Trump and his foreign policy team have been up to their necks with Venezuela and the Ukraine War, haven’t shown a willingness so far to take on a new project in Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump he was ready to do anything to support the U.S. foreign policy on Iran. If Trump wants regime change, Netanyahu promised he would be by Trump’s side in any kind to fracas with Iran. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has threatened war with the U.S. and Israel.
Trump has no good options in Iran other than bombing the regime into oblivious. Ayatollah his holed up in an underground bunker, anticipating survival from a U.S. attack. But if Trump opts to use lethal force, it must be a coordinated effort with Israel to take out what’s left of Iran’s air defenses, making sure there’s nothing left of the Republican Guard, Basij militia and regime hierarchy. If Trump decides to intervene militarily, it will have to once-and-for-all end the Ayatollah’s rule. Holding on to power for the last 47 years, the Ayatollah proved his repressive regime is capable of resisting any Iranian street protests. Netanyahu knows there can be no placating the mullah regime, including idle talk about what’s left of its nuclear enrichment program. Trump has some big decisions to make but can make them without joint consultation and collaboration with Israel.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
