{"id":196757,"date":"2026-01-13T12:26:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T12:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-airstrikes-on-iran-are-on-the-table-trump-white-house-says-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T12:26:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T12:26:58","slug":"us-airstrikes-on-iran-are-on-the-table-trump-white-house-says-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-airstrikes-on-iran-are-on-the-table-trump-white-house-says-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"US airstrikes on Iran are 'on the table,' Trump White House says – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2012 Attacking Iran with airstrikes is “on the table” as President Donald Trump<\/a> weighs military options<\/a> in the country after the Iranian regime’s deadly crackdown<\/a> on the country’s largest protests in years, the White House said.
“One thing President Trump<\/a> is very good at is always keeping all of his options on the table,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Jan. 12. “And airstrikes would be one of the many, many options that are on the table for the commander-in-chief.”
Leavitt also noted that “diplomacy is always the first option for the president” while adding: “The president has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran.”
Protests in Iran, sparked by the nation’s struggling economy after years of international sanctions, have resulted in hundreds of deaths, drawing the condemnation of human rights organizations.
As of Jan. 11, the Human Rights Activists News Agency estimated over 580 people have been killed since the unrest began, and more than 10,600 people have been detained by authorities.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in remarks broadcast by state television<\/a>, said Iran is “not seeking war but is fully prepared for war,”<\/a> according to translations from The Guardian<\/a> and other media outlets. He warned adversaries against any “miscalculation.”
Trump on Jan. 11 told reporters he’s exploring potential military options amid the violence in Iran, whose leaders he said “called to negotiate” with the United States over the weekend. Trump said a potential meeting between U.S. officials and Iran is in the works.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate. We may meet with them. I mean, a meeting is being set up. But we have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting”
Leavitt said an Iranian official reached out to Steven Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, about meeting with Trump officials. She said the official expressed “a far different tone than what you’re seeing publicly.”
Araghchi said Iran is “ready for negotiations but these negotiations should be fair, with equal rights and based on mutual respect.”
Trump has vowed the United States would<\/a> intervene if Iranian officials target peaceful protests.\u00a0He has also threatened to “knock the hell” out of Iran if it works to rebuild its weapons supply following Israeli and U.S. strikes on Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs in June
Leavitt also confirmed Trump engaged with billionaire tech entrepreneur and former White House official Elon Musk<\/a> about helping to restore internet connectivity in Iran as authorities disrupt services during the protests.
Trump had suggested a conversation with Musk, who previously led Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency<\/a>, was imminent.
“He’s very good at that kind of thing. He’s got a very good company. So we may speak to Elon Musk<\/a>. In fact, I’m going to call him as soon as I’m finished with you,” Trump said Jan. 11 when asked about enlisting Musk’s SpaceX, which offers a satellite internet service called Starlink that has been used in Iran.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

WASHINGTON \u2012 Attacking Iran with airstrikes is “on the table” as President Donald Trump weighs military options in the country after the Iranian regime’s deadly crackdown on the country’s largest protests in years, the White House said.“One thing President Trump is very good at is always keeping all of his options on the table,” White […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196758,"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-196757","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\/196757","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=196757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}