Trump briefed that Iran regime’s hold on power at ‘weakest point’ since 1979 – report |
US President Donald Trump has received multiple US intelligence briefings signaling that the hold of the regime in the Islamic Republic is weakening, The New York Times reported Monday, citing several people familiar with the information.
According to the report, the intelligence indicates that “the Iranian government’s hold on power is at its weakest point since the shah was overthrown in the 1979 revolution.”
The report comes as Trump mulls using force against Iran after the regime brutally suppressed protests that began last month, killing at least several thousand civilians and arresting tens of thousands.
The report also said that US intelligence indicates that Iran’s economy is “historically weak,” leading to further belief that the regime is in dire straits.
The protests were sparked by the collapse Iran’s currency, the rial, as Iranian citizens’ savings cratered in value, pushing millions to take to the streets for over two weeks. As of Tuesday, the rial traded with the US dollar at 1,077,500 to $1, nearly its lowest-ever value.
As the regime carried out its brutal crackdown, Trump vowed that “help is on the way,” and said he would take action against the regime if it began killing protesters en masse. While Trump backed down after he said Iran decided not to execute protesters, he has maintained that he may still take action against the regime and has moved significant military assets to the region.
On Monday, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships moved into the CENTCOM area of operations alongside additional forces, and is expected to be in operational range of Iran within a matter of days.
While it is not clear what Trump will decide to do, hawkish advisers have been pushing for him to act.
“The goal is to end the regime,” Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump, told the Times. “They may stop killing them today, but if they’re in charge next month, they’ll kill them then.”
In a separate post on X, Graham said:........