Trump’s team prepares a list of military options against Iran and alternatives such as sanctions or cyberattacks

The vice president, JD Vance, and the secretary of state, Marco Rubiohave been part of the team that has designed this list of military options, while at the same time other avenues have been put on the table like new sanctions economic, cyber attacks o broader support for protestswhich have spread to more than a hundred cities throughout the country.

The meeting came after the Republican said Tuesday that ordered to cancel “all meetings” with Tehran officials and that the president’s envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff suspended contacts which he maintained until recently with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, and his team.

Trump has not ruled out the use of military force in Iran if the ayatollah regime continues to repress civil protests with violence and execute protesters and even indicated on Tuesday that “help was on the way” in relation to the mobilizations.

According to various sources close to the White House, Washington Postthe Trump administration is divided on whether an attack against military or government facilities in Iran it is the best optionsince a new military offensive, similar to the bombing of nuclear facilities in June, carries a high risk of miscalculation or erroneous intelligence material.

The Trump administration on Monday asked European partners to share intelligence information on possible targets inside Iran.

Another of the arguments against of a military operation against the ayatollah regime lies in the fact that the United States does not currently have sufficient capacity in the region to avoid retaliationsince it had to withdraw many of its troops for the blockade operation against Venezuela and the capture of its president Nicolás Maduro.

Despite this, it does have multiple destroyers nearby capable of firing long range missiles, and presumably submarines with ballistic missiles.

However, in Trump’s environment there is still reluctance to intervene militarily and destabilize the region given the possibility that the fall of the Iranian government will lead to a more extreme regime or another failed state in the Middle East.

Fear of a clash with MAGA

There are also many reservations that this military intervention represents a new clash with the bases of the MAGA movement (Make America Great Again).

The core of MAGA reacted with strong rejection and criticism of the United States’ attack on Iran last year, seeing it as a betrayal of the promise to avoid new wars in the Middle East.

Although a part of the base supported the bombings as a specific action to stop the Iranian nuclear program, influential leaders of the most isolationist Trumpism warned that The operation contradicted the ‘America First’ doctrine and opened the door to another prolonged conflict.

On social networks and programs related to the movement, they denounced that The attack lacked clear justificationa, which had been launched without sufficient debate in Congress and which put American lives at risk for interests outside the country’s domestic priorities.

Among the alternatives to a military operation, Trump’s team is considering cyberattacks on Iranian government infrastructure, measures to counter Iranian blockade of protesters’ communications and targeted attacks against targets associated with the repressive forces of the Iranian security services.

On Monday night, Trump announced 25% tariffs on countries that trade with Iran. The Republican Government has not given more details about how they would be implemented.