Zarathustra reminds young Iranians...

Editor's note: ...that truth, reason, and moral choice are native to Persian civilization. No Islamic authority rooted in fear can endure where conscience is reclaimed. Although Iran's ruling clerics are largely ethnically Persian, the political system they enforce is rooted in an Islamic legal and cultural tradition that originated in Arabia. Arabic remains the language of religious authority, law, and ritual, while pre-Islamic Persian identity, history, philosophy, and cultural pluralism has been subordinated to a primitive religious framework imported through the 7th-century Arab conquest. For many young Iranians, opposition to the current system is not about ethnicity, but about rejecting an Arab-origin religious ideology imposed over a distinctly Persian civilization they believe has been constrained rather than represented by the Islamic Republic. The very large young demographics of Iran want the Islamic yolk they are strapped to removed. Thousands of Iranians are alleged to have been killed. That's the imposition of Islam for you as Saudi Arabia denies the US airspace. 
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Trump weighs Iran strikes to inspire renewed protests, sources say

By Samia Nakhoul, Humeyra Pamuk, Rami Ayyub and Parisa Hafezi  |  January 29, 2026

Summary

• Trump's options include targeting leaders and security forces involved in crackdown, US sources say

• Strikes on nuclear or missile programmes also considered: sources

• Trump has not decided whether to take military path, sources say

• Iran prepares for military confrontation, seeks diplomatic channels, Iranian official says

DUBAI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces and leaders to inspire protesters, multiple sources said, even as Israeli and Arab officials said air power alone would not topple the clerical rulers.

Two U.S. sources familiar with the discussions said Trump wanted to create conditions for "regime change" after a crackdown crushed a nationwide protest movement earlier this month, killing thousands of people.

To do so, he was looking at options to hit commanders and institutions Washington holds responsible for the violence, to give protesters the confidence that they could overrun government and security buildings, they said. Trump has not yet made a final decision on a course of action including whether to take the military path, one of the sources and a U.S. official said.

The second U.S. source said the options being discussed by Trump's aides also included a much larger strike intended to have lasting impact, possibly against the ballistic missiles that can reach U.S. allies in the Middle East or its nuclear enrichment programmes. Iran has been unwilling to negotiate restrictions on the missiles, which it sees as its only deterrence against Israel, the first source said.

The arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier and supporting warships in the Middle East this week has expanded Trump's capabilities to potentially take military action, after he repeatedly threatened intervention over Iran's crackdown.

Washington's next moves regarding Iran. Four Arab officials, three Western diplomats and a senior Western source whose governments were briefed on the discussions said they were concerned that instead of bringing people onto the streets, U.S. strikes could weaken a movement already in shock after the bloodiest repression by authorities since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute, said that without large-scale military defections Iran's protests remained "heroic but outgunned."

The sources in this story requested anonymity to talk about sensitive matters. Iran's foreign office, the U.S. Department of Defense and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. The Israeli Prime Minister's office declined to comment.

Trump urged Iran on Wednesday to come to the table and make a deal on nuclear weapons, warning that any future U.S. attack would be "far worse" than a June bombing campaign against three nuclear sites. He described the ships in the region as an "armada" sailing to Iran.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran was "preparing itself for a military confrontation, while at the same time making use of diplomatic channels." However, Washington was not showing openness to diplomacy, the official said. The U.S. official said the current weakness of the regime encouraged Trump to apply pressure and seek a deal on denuclearisation.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is civilian, was ready for dialogue "based on mutual respect and interests" but would defend itself "like never before" if pushed, Iran's mission to the United Nations said in a post on X on Wednesday.

Trump has not publicly detailed what he is looking for in any deal. His administration's previous negotiating points have included banning Iran from independently enriching uranium and restrictions on long-range ballistic missiles and on Tehran's already-weakened network of armed proxies in the Middle East.

LIMITS OF AIR POWER

A senior Israeli official with direct knowledge of planning between Israel and the United States said Israel does not believe airstrikes alone can topple the Islamic Republic, if that is Washington's goal. "If you're going to topple the regime, you have to put boots on the ground," he told Reuters, noting that even if the United States killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran would "have a new leader that will replace him."

Only a combination of external pressure and an organised domestic opposition could shift Iran’s political trajectory, the official said.

Please go to Reuters to continue reading.

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This fusion of religious overlay on cultures and people like in Iran is just as bad in the US where there are "leaders" like Ted Cruz with a copy of the Scofield Bible in his back pocket:

Ted Cruz, the Gaza War, and the Scofield Bible

CHRISTIAN ZIONISM: A Pox on the Soul of America