The USS Abraham Lincoln is now in the Indian Ocean and reportedly is within striking distance of Iran. President Trump told Axios yesterday that he thought Iran was eager to make a deal.
"We have a big armada next to Iran. Bigger than Venezuela," Trump said.
He declined to discuss the options presented to him by his national security team, or which one he prefers.
At the same time, he said diplomacy remained an option. "They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk."...
U.S. officials say any deal would have to include the removal of all enriched uranium from Iran, a cap on Iran's stockpile of long-range missiles, a change in Iran's policy of supporting proxies in the region and a ban on independent uranium enrichment in the country.
It's hard to imagine this regime agreeing to any of that, much less all of it. But apparently Trump has received intel briefings that indicate Iran's government is pretty weak at the moment.
President Trump has received multiple U.S. intelligence reports indicating that the Iranian government’s position is weakening, according to several people familiar with the information.
The reports signal that the Iranian government’s hold on power is at its weakest point since the shah was overthrown in the 1979 revolution.
Protests that erupted late last year, according to the reports, shook elements of the Iranian government, especially as they reached into areas of the country that officials thought were strongholds of support for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.
While the protests have died down, the government remains in a difficult position. Intelligence reports have repeatedly highlighted that in addition to the protests, Iran’s economy is historically weak.
These protests were initially sparked by public anger over the economy. Yesterday, Iran's currently hit a new low against the dollar.
Iran’s currency, the rial, meanwhile fell to a record low of 1.5 million to $1...
The protests in Iran began on Dec. 28, sparked by the fall of the Iranian currency, the rial, and quickly spread across the country. They were met by a violent crackdown by Iran’s theocracy, the scale of which is only starting to become clear as the country has faced more than two weeks of internet blackout — the most comprehensive in its history...
On Tuesday, exchange shops offered the record-low rial-to-dollar rate in Tehran.
Already, Iran has vastly limited its subsidized currency rates to cut down on corruption. It also has offered the equivalent of $7 a month to most people in the country to cover rising costs. However, Iran’s people have seen the rial fall from 32,000 to $1 just a decade ago — which has devoured the value of their savings.
True to form, Iran continues to talk tough, though some of its threats seem out of proportion to its current capabilities.
Over the weekend, Nournews, a news outlet close to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on its Telegram channel that Gen. Mohammad Pakpour had warned the U.S. and Israel, "to avoid any miscalculation."
"The Islamic Revolutionary Guards and dear Iran stand more ready than ever, finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the Commander-in-Chief," Pakpour was quoted as saying, according to The Associated Press.
On Monday, Iran's Defense Ministry spokesperson Gen. Reza Talaei-Nik warned Israel and the U.S. against any attack, saying it would "be met with a response that is more painful and more decisive than in the past."
They also put up a billboard in Tehran with images of a US aircraft carrier under attack. In English, the billboard reads "If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind."
The billboard was unveiled in Enghelab Square, a location in the Iranian capital for state gatherings where murals based on national occasions are displayed.
The image is of a bird’s-eye view of an aircraft carrier with destroyed fighter jets on its deck and streams of blood that trail into the water behind the ship, forming a pattern like the stripes of the U.S. flag. The caption is written in Farsi and English and says, “If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind."
All of these dictatorships talk a good game but in reality Iran's government is probably on the edge of collapse, or as close to as it has been since the regime's founding. Their decision to shut down the internet for two solid weeks so images of authorities murdering protesters couldn't be live-streamed has also inadvertently damaged the economy. It turns out you can't run a modern business without the internet.
We'll have to wait and see what Iran does next and how President Trump responds. We seem to be poised for a strike at almost any moment.
Long-range bombers based in the United States that could strike targets in Iran remain on a higher-than-usual alert status. The Pentagon heightened the alert status two weeks ago, when Mr. Trump requested options to respond to the crackdown on protests in the country.
Pentagon officials have also stepped up consultations with regional allies in recent days. Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of Central Command, visited Syria, Iraq and Israel over the weekend to confer with U.S. military officers and counterparts there...
American officials have also been consulting with regional partners on Iran. In addition to conversations with Israeli officials and meetings in Baghdad, Trump administration officials have held talks with Saudi and Qatari officials, according to a U.S. official.
It sounds like everything is lined up and ready to go, meaning there's lots of pressure on Iran right now to agree to at least some of Trump's demands.
Iran’s leadership is sending a defiant warning to the United States as tensions soar. @fpleitgenCNN reports from inside Iran, and speaks to residents on the streets of the capital Tehran. pic.twitter.com/iXNlRQCLzc
— CNN International PR (@cnnipr) January 27, 2026
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