Name: Does Iran need foreign intervention? | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-01-13T17:35:17.000Z
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US President Donald Trump is putting pressure on Iran's leaders amid their severe crackdown on nationwide anti government protests.

On Monday, Trump posted to his Truth Social platform that any country trading with Iran would pay a tariff of 25% on any business conducted with the US rights groups say they have confirmed the killings of more than 640 people by Iranian security forces.

Other reports say the death toll could be much higher.

airstrikes on Iran remain on the table as a response to the violent repression here in Europe.

Calls for support of the Iranian protesters are becoming louder, although support without military intervention.

So far, there's only been condemnation of the violence against protesters, with the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz among the critical voices.

When a regime can only stay in power through violence, it has de facto reached its end.

I believe we're seeing the last days and weeks of this regime.

It has no democratic legitimacy through elections, and the population is now rising up.

I hope there's an opportunity to peacefully end this conflict.

The US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he supports the protesters in Iran and that he is considering military action to stop them from being killed by the regime.

And with the Islamic Republic's crackdown intensifying, this is what a growing number of Iranians are putting their hopes on, both inside the country and in the diaspora.

He is Iran's exiled crown prince and an increasingly visible leader of the Iranian opposition.

He spoke to the Fox News Channel's Sunday morning Futures.

You know that you're not going to throw them under the bus as they have had before.

This is why they believe that this time they are empowered by the hope that you have their back.

Your words of solidarity with the Iranian people and your administration has had tremendous positive effect.

Let's hope that we can permanently seal this legacy by liberating Iran so that we and you can make Iran great again.

He's the director of research into Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps at the United Against Nuclear Iran Organization, and

he's a specialist on Iran and its military apparatus.

Kasra, can I ask you, how would a military intervention in Iran have to be carried out in order to support protesters rather than endanger injuring them further?

New reports indicate in the past 24 hours we've received new Reports, and

they indicate that as many as 12,000 civilians may have been killed by the regime.

So the death toll is looking closer to 12,000.

Now, what we have on the ground in Iran is a situation whereby the regime has an extensive suppressive apparatus that cuts across every level and sector of Iranian society.

The protest, the cycle of protests and suppression will continue unless you change the balance of power between the unarmed civilians and the fully armed and fully radicalized suppressive apparatus.

So targeted strikes, targeted military strikes, that focus on that suppressive infrastructure, focusing on IRGC headquarters, sub headquarters, operational units, that infrastructure, that capability, has the ability to change that balance of power.

And let's be absolutely clear, civilians, Iranian civilians, are not in IRGC headquarters.

Rather, they're being killed by the orders coming from those headquarters.

I just want to come back to the number that you quoted there.

So you're saying that there are some estimates of 12,000 people, people having been killed.

A new report by Iran International this morning put the figure based off sourcing inside of the country at 12,000.

Reports that we have also looked at in the past 24 hours indicated that it was close, unconfirmed reports close to 7,000.

So I think you're looking at a death toll, really, between 7 to 12,000.

You have a ruthless regime that is unleashing full brutality on the streets.

It is obviously an extremely difficult situation.

Let's just go back to the idea of intervention.

And let's talk about the obvious target, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Do you think the US Might directly target him or potentially even capture him, as they did with President Maduro in Venezuela?

I think the context in Iran is very different to Venezuela.

In Iran, you have a highly radicalized and extensive security apparatus that is loyal to the Ayatollah, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But Khamenei has personalized every aspect of of power in the Islamic Republic.

He has installed his cult of personality across every section of power, including, by the way, across the ranks of the suppressive apparatus.

He is giving the orders to kill Iranians on the streets if he is eliminated.

I believe this needs to be simultaneously carried out through a targeted military campaign that focuses on the suppressive infrastructure.

That would inflict a major shock to the foundations of the Islamic Republic.

It's what, by the way, the Iranian people have been calling for on the streets.

But that needs to take place simultaneously alongside targeted strikes that dismantle the security apparatus, because that's what's going on the streets and killing the Iranians.

I did want to ask you, do you see any alternative for a military intervention?

Is there anything else the US or any other nation could do to support the protesters in Iran?

The European powers should be putting full diplomatic pressure on the regime.

And this means making it very clear to the regime that it will be fully diplomatically isolated if this happens.

It needs to be targeting Iranian petrochemical sales.

We've seen how the Europeans have adopted a tough stance against illicit Russian oil.

The Europeans now need to adopt a tough stance against targeting Iranian oil.

We need a maximum pressure campaign against the regime, cyber operations, psychological warfare operations.

But crucially, this needs to take place against the backdrop of a targeted military campaign that targets the killing machine of the Ayatollah.

We need to dismantle that killing machine, Kasra Arabi from United Against Nuclear Iran.

He is a renowned professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, specializing in Middle east politics, Islamism and US Foreign policy in the region.

Welcome to the program and thank you so much for joining us.

What do you think that the regime is thinking when they hear those statements from the German chancellor?

Because European leaders have been condemning the crackdown.

Well, I think what we need to understand is that Iran is facing an existential crisis.

This is the most significant threat to the Clarence in Tehran since 1979, the revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran.

I doubted very much whether the condemnation by European leaders, including the German Chancellor, will sway the resolve of the clerics to clamp down against the protesters.

Europe has very little influence over Iran, in particular after it reimposed the sanctions against Iran a few months ago.