Iran and its militia allies say they will respond aggressively in the region if attacked. A U.S. aircraft carrier and warships are approaching the region.
The bloody crackdown offers hints about growing tensions inside the country’s ruling system as the cleric’s rule comes under strain.
Understanding the factors that can topple regimes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel asked the president to postpone any planned attack. Israeli and Arab officials fear Iran could retaliate by striking their countries.
Israel is unlikely to do much to try to precipitate a regime change in Iran, seeing the government as far from the brink of collapse and the current protests as insufficient to push it to that point.
While several of the Gulf Arab countries harbor little love for Iran, they worry that the consequences of rising tensions could blow back on them.
Its security forces have brutally defended the Islamic Republic, but the protests show that many Iranians consider it stagnant and ideologically hollow.
“HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” President Trump said on social media. He has threatened to intervene militarily on behalf of the protesters if Iran uses lethal force.
The Pentagon is presenting a wider range of strike options to the president than previously reported. Targets could include Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile sites.
Demonstrations that began as outrage at the state of the economy have spread to cities across the country, amid an escalating crackdown by the authorities.