- Trump threatens ‘very strong’ response if Tehran hangs protesters; Riyadh reportedly tells Iran it won’t allow Saudi airspace to be used for strikes; foreign nationals urged to leave
Israeli and Arab officials have suggested the Trump administration hold off on striking Iran for now, believing that the Islamic Republic may not be sufficiently weakened in order for a US attack to topple it, NBC News reported Tuesday.
The report came as US President Donald Trump told reporters that he has not yet decided what course of action he will take in response to Iran’s killing of protesters.
Protests have taken place across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. It said Wednesday that at least 2,571 people had been killed and more than 18,100 had been arrested in the more than two weeks of protests. The Mossad is said to believe the death toll is more than twice as high.
NBC said that Israeli and Arab officials prefer the US wait to strike until the Iranian regime is further stretched, and that this message was relayed in talks held the past few days involving US political and military leaders. The report cited a US official, an-ex US official briefed on the matter, a person familiar with Israeli leaders’ thinking, and two Arab officials.
According to the report, Israeli officials told their American interlocutors that they strongly support regime change and US efforts to bring it about, but are worried that foreign military action may not be enough.
They also reportedly suggested the US act in other ways to destabilize the regime and support the protesters, who may be able to do more to undermine the Islamic Republic before strikes play a decisive role.
circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens
of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran’s capital, in
Kahrizak, Tehran Province.
Among the actions that NBC said Israel proposed were assisting Iranians to get around the communications shutdown, toughening economic sanctions, engaging in a cyberattack, or launching targeted strikes against specific senior leaders in Iran that could help spur the regime’s demise.
One of the Arab officials quoted in the report said there was a “lack of enthusiasm from the neighborhood” for an American attack on Iran at the moment, while another was concerned that “any attack or escalation by Israel or the US will unite Iranians.”
While the NBC report appeared to suggest the possibility of Arab support for US strikes at a later stage, officials seemed to suggest to the Wall Street Journal that they were against the potential action.
government protest in Tehran, Iran, January 9, 2026.
Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar have told the US that an attempt at regime change in Iran could lead to them also facing internal unrest, and would rattle the oil markets, Arab Gulf officials told the newspaper.
The report said that Riyadh told Tehran it wouldn’t get involved in any potential US action, and wouldn’t permit the use of its airspace for strikes, Saudi officials told the Journal.
The message to Tehran appeared to come as Iran warned regional countries it will strike US military bases in those nations in case of a US attack.
“Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkey, that US bases in those countries will be attacked if the US targets Iran… asking these countries to prevent Washington from attacking Iran,” an unnamed senior Iranian official told Reuters.
Trump: ‘Very strong action’ if Iran starts hanging protesters
In an interview with CBS News, Trump warned of unspecified “very strong action” against Iran if its authorities go ahead with the threatened to hang some protesters.
Tehran prosecutors have said Iranian authorities would press capital charges of moharebeh, or “waging war against God,” against some of those arrested.
Relatives of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, who was detained last week, told BBC Persian that they had been informed he would be executed on Wednesday. A relative said that a court had issued a death sentence “in an extremely rapid process, within just two days.”
Trump told CBS: “I haven’t heard about the hanging. If they hang them, you’re going to see some things… We will take very strong action if they do such a thing.”
“When they start killing thousands of people — and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” Trump added.
He also said that while “no one has been able to give us accurate numbers” on how many demonstrators the Islamic Republic has killed in its crackdown on the unrest, which has been carried out under the cover of an internet blackout, the toll appeared to be “pretty substantial.”
Asked what is “the end game” in Iran, Trump answered, “The end game is to win. I like winning.”
Iran continued to blame the US and Israel for the protests against the theocracy that has presided over the country’s global isolation and economic collapse.
Iran told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the US and Israel “bear direct and undeniable legal responsibility for the resulting loss of innocent civilian lives, particularly among the youth.”
In a letter to the Security Council, which was also sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani charged that Trump was encouraging political destabilization, inciting violence, and threatening the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security.
Foreign nationals urged to leave
As tensions ratcheted up, the US again urged its citizens to leave Iran immediately, and advised them to consider departing by land to Turkey or Armenia, according to a new notice released by the US virtual embassy in Tehran.
Canada also urged its citizens to leave the Islamic Republic immediately, if safe to do so, and also noted that land borders with Armenia and Turkey remained open even as most international flights have been canceled.
Germany similarly urged its residents to leave the country, warning that if they choose to remain they were at risk of “arbitrary arrests.”
Australia warned its nationals that “if you remain in Iran against our advice, you’re responsible for your own safety.”
BY: The Times Union
