President Trump Is Scheduled to Get Briefing on Iran Tuesday

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump is scheduled to receive a briefing on the situation in Iran on Tuesday.

An American official told Reuters on Sunday that President Trump is expected to meet with his senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options regarding Iran, as quoted by Al Arabiya (12/1).

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported the same day, President Trump will be briefed by his officials on Tuesday on options related to Iran including military strikes, the use of covert cyber weapons, expanded sanctions, to providing online assistance to anti-government sources.

President Trump is known to have repeatedly said the US would intervene in the Iranian protests if the local government used violence against demonstrators.

"US government officials told Politico that the options presented to President Trump ranged from targeted strikes inside Iran to offensive cyberattacks," said an official who asked for anonymity to discuss ongoing conversations, adding that the government wanted to avoid options that created massive civilian impact so that things that could be adjusted to target Iranian military forces were preferred.

The government is also considering whether it can send terminals for Elon Musk's satellite-based internet service, a former US official said.

"We can increase the pressure campaign in various ways," the official said.

"The window (for the President to take action) is narrow but the people are angry," he said.

Trump is not expected to send American troops to the country, and a second official said there are currently no major troop or asset movements being planned.

Some in the administration are concerned that U.S. action could escalate tensions in the Middle East or backfire in its efforts to help the growing protest movement.

The United States already has a significant force in the region, as demonstrated in Saturday's attack on ISIS fighters in Syria where more than 20 warplanes attacked multiple locations.

As previously reported, protests broke out in Iran on December 28 in response to soaring prices, the plummeting value of the Iranian rial against the US dollar, before turning against the clerical rulers who have ruled since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian authorities accuse the United States and Israel of instigating the unrest. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a television interview that Israel and the US were the instigators of destabilization, with Iran's enemies having brought in "terrorists who burned mosques, attacked banks, and public property."

The latest figures, from activists inside and outside Iran - the US-based human rights group HRANA, said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested in two weeks of unrest.

Meanwhile, Tehran has threatened to target US military bases if President Donald Trump carries out his threat to intervene on behalf of the demonstrators.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington not to make "a miscalculation."

"Let's be clear: if there is an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate targets," said Qalibaf, a former commander in the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).