White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt states that airstrikes are “one of the many, many option that are on the table” for President Trump to use against Iran, but adds that diplomacy is always the first option for the President.

The White House is weighing a last-ditch Iranian offer to engage in diplomacy over curbing its nuclear program, even as President Donald J. Trump currently leans toward authorizing fresh military strikes on Iran in response to deadly crackdowns on anti-regime protests in the country, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal.

Some senior administration aides, led by Vice President JD Vance, are urging President Trump to try diplomacy before retaliating against Iran for killing protesters during recent anti-regime protests in several major cities, including Tehran. Trump hasn’t made a final decision on what he will do, according to officials, and will meet with senior aides to discuss options on Tuesday.

President Trump currently favors attacking Iran, officials said, but could change his mind depending on developments in the country and discussions with aides, including Vice President Vance. Some officials said Trump may strike first and then seek serious talks with Tehran afterward, which the President appeared to signal while speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.

A U.S. official tells Al-Jazeera that planning for strikes against Iran has reached “advanced stages,” and that American Forces across the Middle East are prepared for any contingency or retaliation from Iran.

Non-essential staff and the families of diplomatic staff at the French Embassy in Tehran have left Iran, sources tell the Agence France-Presse (AFP).

According to TankerTrackers, Iran has reportedly released the Marshall Islands-flagged Greek-owned oil tanker, St. Nikolas, which forces under the Iranian Navy and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized in January 2024 under a “court order,” while the ship was carrying oil from Iraq to Turkey through the Gulf of Oman.

Fox News’ @TreyYingst states that he was able to make contact with a source tonight in the Central Iranian city of Isfahan, who described ongoing anti-government demonstrations in the city as a “battle,” with security forces using live-ammunition on protesters against the Islamic Regime.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has announced that, effective immediately, any country doing business with the Islamic Republican of Iran will pay a tariff of 25% on any and all business done with the United States.

The U.S. State Department has released an updated travel alert for Iran due to the ongoing nationwide anti-government protests and brutal crackdown, stating that Americans in the country should, “expect continued internet outages, plan alternative means of communication, and, if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Türkiye.”

Footage published by The Independent Persian on Telegram, which claims to show anti-government protests tonight in the Iranian capital of Tehran, with crowds appearing to be in the ten of thousands, while the caption onscreen reads, “Massive crowd of protesters in Tehran on the sixteenth day of the National Revolution.”

Massive fires burn and thousands of protesters can been seen on the streets in the Central Iranian city of Isfahan, in footage claimed to be from tonight that was received and published by The Independent Persian.

Iran has now been under a total internet blackout for over 100 hours, as anti-government protests and brutal crackdowns continue to escalate into their third week across the Islamic Republic.

President Donald J. Trump was briefed late Monday by his national security team on a wide array of military options for Iran, including cyber and psychological operations, two defense officials tell CBS News.

The U.S. Department of Defense is presenting President Donald J. Trump with a wide-range of strike options against Iran, in response to the ongoing brutal crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests, with options including potential strikes against Iran’s nuclear program, beyond last June’s strikes against three underground nuclear-enrichment facilities, an official told the New York Times.

However, the narrower options, a cyberattack or a strike against Iran’s domestic security apparatus, which is responsible for using lethal force against protesters during recent demonstrations in Tehran and other major cities, are more likely, the official said. Any attack is at least several days away, and could prompt a vigorous retaliation against American troops and bases in the Middle East from Iran.

Kari Lake, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) under President Trump, has blocked Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from using a powerful transmitter operated by the USAGM in Kuwait to broadcast news and protest updates into Iran, amid the Islamic Republic’s ongoing nationwide internet blackout and brutal crackdown, Oliver Darcy reported in his recent independent newsletter Status.

Partial cell service was briefly returned to the Iranian capital of Tehran early Tuesday morning for the first time in over four days, with several calls reportedly being made between residents and journalists serving at the Dubai Office for The Associated Press (AP).

Iranian authorities are hunting down users of Elon Musk’s satellite internet service Starlink in an effort to stop protest videos from reaching the outside world, with security forces launching an operation over the weekend to search for and confiscate Starlink dishes in Western Tehran, according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to the Editorial Board of Iran International, at least 12,000 people have been killed so far by security forces in ongoing anti-government demonstrations in Iran, calling it the “largest massacre in contemporary Iranian history,” occurring primarily over two consecutive nights, last Thursday and Friday, January 8 and 9.

Iran International stated that the statistics are based on information received from one source close to the Supreme National Security Council, two sources in the Office of the President, accounts received from several sources in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the cities of Mashhad, Kermanshah, and Isfahan, eyewitness accounts and families of the deceased, field reports, data related to medical centers, and information obtained by doctors and nurses in various cities across Iran.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said the world is seeing the “final days” of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as anti-government protests continue to spread across the country, with hundreds of thousands demonstrating in the Iranian capital of Tehran. “When a regime can only hold on to power through violence, it is effectively finished. I believe that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime,” Metz told reporters today during a two-day visit to India.

President Donald J. Trump in a post earlier on Truth Social directed at anti-regime protesters in Iran, “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP”