{"id":196747,"date":"2026-01-13T10:25:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-news-at-a-glance-white-house-doubles-down-on-threat-of-lethal-force-against-iran-amid-unrest-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T10:25:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:25:43","slug":"trump-news-at-a-glance-white-house-doubles-down-on-threat-of-lethal-force-against-iran-amid-unrest-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-news-at-a-glance-white-house-doubles-down-on-threat-of-lethal-force-against-iran-amid-unrest-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump news at a glance: White House doubles down on threat of \u2018lethal force\u2019 against Iran amid unrest – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump also announced a 25% tariff for \u2018any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran\u2019 \u2013 <\/strong>key US politics stories from 12 January
Last week, as growing protests in Iran were met with violent crackdowns, Donald Trump<\/a> issued a threat to the country\u2019s leadership: \u201cYou\u2019d better not start shooting, because we\u2019ll start shooting too.\u201d
This week the White House is doubling down on Trump\u2019s saber-rattling.
Speaking to Fox News, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said although diplomacy remained Trump\u2019s \u201cfirst option\u201d, he was \u201cunafraid to use the lethal force and might of the United States military if and when he deems that necessary\u201d.
\u201cAirstrikes would be one of the many, many options that are on the table for the commander-in-chief,\u201d Leavitt continued, adding: \u201cHe\u2019s made it quite clear he certainly doesn\u2019t want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran, and unfortunately, that\u2019s something we\u2019re seeing right now.\u201d
In recent weeks, the Iranian regime has confronted its largest protest movement since 2009, which its leadership has sought to downplay, attributing the unrest to \u201cAmerican-Zionist terrorism<\/a>\u201d.
Pointing to last year\u2019s US strikes on Iran\u2019s three major nuclear sites \u2013 which subsequent satellite imagery<\/a> suggested caused more limited damage than Trump had claimed<\/a> \u2013 White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt said of Trump\u2019s potential use of US military force: \u201cNobody knows that better than Iran.\u201d
Following Leavitt\u2019s comments on Monday afternoon, Trump announced on Truth Social: \u201cEffective immediately, any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America.\u201d
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
Every living former head of the Federal Reserve condemned an \u201cunprecedented\u201d attempt by the Trump administration<\/a> to weaken the central bank\u2019s independence, after the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into its chair, Jerome Powell.
Ex-Fed chairs Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen warned similar prosecutorial attacks in other countries had led to \u201chighly negative consequences\u201d for the cost of living \u2013 and argued they had \u201cno place\u201d in the US.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison announced a lawsuit Monday against the federal government, seeking to end the surge of ICE agents in the state.
\u201cThis is in essence a federal invasion of the Twin Cities, and it must stop,\u201d Ellison said during a press conference, noting the shutdown of schools and the closure of local businesses. \u201cThis surge has made us less safe.\u201d
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
Greenland\u2019s government has said it \u201ccannot under any circumstances accept\u201d Donald Trump\u2019s desire to take control of Greenland, as Nato\u2019s secretary general Mark Rutte said the organisation was working on ways to bolster Arctic security.
At the start of a critical week for the vast Arctic island, a largely self-governing part of Denmark, the US president restated his interest in the strategically located, mineral-rich territory, saying the US would take it \u201cone way or the other\u201d.<\/a>
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
After a year in which US journalists faced a dramatic increase<\/a> in violence from law enforcement, news organizations and advocacy groups have recently tried to better protect reporters through outreach to the Department of Homeland Security.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
Donald Trump has said he might block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela after the oil company\u2019s chief executive called the country \u201cuninvestable\u201d during a White House meeting last week.
Darren Woods told the US president that Venezuela would need to change its laws before it could be an attractive investment opportunity, during the high-profile meeting<\/a> on Friday with at least 17 other oil executives.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
Experts say Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s recent executive order<\/a> on cannabis rescheduling is unlikely to make a meaningful difference for those most vulnerable to cannabis-related criminal charges, which the president has ramped up in various ways during his second term.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
The US supreme court will consider state bans on transgender athletes on Tuesday in a major LGBTQ+ rights legal battle<\/a><\/strong> that could have far-reaching consequences beyond youth sports.
Democratic US senator Mark Kelly filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to nullify the \u201cchilling\u201d attempt by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth<\/a><\/strong>, to reduce the military veteran\u2019s rank and pension as punishment for speaking out against the Trump administration<\/a>.
Thousands of nurses are set to walk off the job at several of New York City\u2019s largest hospitals on Monday<\/a><\/strong>, staging a strike amid an intense flu season. The action comes three years after a previous strike<\/a> that compelled some of the same hospitals to move patients elsewhere and reroute ambulances.
US plans to exploit Venezuela\u2019s oil reserves could by 2050 consume more than a tenth of the world\u2019s remaining carbon budget to limit global heating to 1.5C<\/a><\/strong>, according to an exclusive analysis.
Dozens of artists, including Cynthia Nixon, Mark Ruffalo and Ilana Glazer, have joined with doctors, human rights leaders and humanitarian organizations to call for the immediate restoration of medical care in Gaza<\/a><\/strong> in a letter addressed <\/strong>to the state of Israel<\/a> and world leaders.
Paramount Skydance plans to nominate directors to Warner Bros Discovery\u2019s (WBD) board to vote against the approval of its deal with Netflix<\/a><\/strong>, and filed a lawsuit seeking disclosure of financial information related to the $82.7bn (\u00a361.4bn) agreement.
Google\u2019s parent company hit a major financial milestone on Monday<\/a><\/strong>, reaching a $4tn valuation for the first time and surpassing Apple to become the second-most valuable company in the world.
Former Alaska representative <\/a><\/strong>Mary Peltola<\/a><\/strong> announced on Monday she is running for Alaska\u2019s US Senate seat<\/a><\/strong>, handing Democrats<\/a> a major recruitment victory as the party battles to reclaim the chamber\u2019s majority in this year\u2019s midterm elections.
Donald Trump<\/a> has said <\/a>he regrets not getting the US national guard to seize voting machines after his 2020 election defeat<\/a><\/strong>, as he continues to falsely claim that he won the race.
Catching up? Here\u2019s what happened Sunday 11 January<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump also announced a 25% tariff for \u2018any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran\u2019 \u2013 key US politics stories from 12 JanuaryLast week, as growing protests in Iran were met with violent crackdowns, Donald Trump issued a threat to the country\u2019s leadership: \u201cYou\u2019d better not start shooting, because we\u2019ll start shooting too.\u201dThis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-196747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}