Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Kermanshah, Iran on January 8, 2026.
Kamran | Afp | Getty Images
Iran appears to be next on President Donald Trump’s list, after Venezuela and Greenland.
The context: Protests in Iran, which are now in their third week, were triggered over a sharp jump in inflation and have evolved into anti-government ones. More than 500 people have been killed, according to U.S.-based rights group HRANA, as Iran’s government cracks down on dissent.
Trump, referring to the protestors, wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday that “the United States of America will come to their rescue.”
Those weren’t empty words. White House officials have shown Trump plans on how he can carry through with his threat, and will be briefing him Tuesday on actions, including military, cyber and economic, according to MS Now and other media outlets.
Iran is a major oil producer. Energy prices will likely be impacted if the U.S. does launch an operation against the Middle Eastern country — which is unlikely to proceed as smoothly as the one in Venezuela.
A broader conflict could also affect market sentiment in the near term.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned of potential retaliation if the U.S. does strike the country. “In the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all U.S. bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” Qalibaf said, according to a Reuters report.
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Trump reportedly weighing options against Iran. The president has been shown potential plans, ranging from possible military strikes to action that doesn’t include the military, according to MS Now and other media outlets.
Cuba will not receive Venezuelan oil, Trump says. The Caribbean island, however, pushed back against Trump’s threat for it to make a deal with the U.S. Separately, Trump on Friday signed an executive order that aims to block the seizure of Venezuelan oil revenue held in U.S. Treasury accounts.
Job creation in U.S. was slower than expected. Nonfarm payrolls for December rose a seasonally adjusted 50,000 for the month, falling short of the Dow Jones estimate for 73,000. Unemployment rate fell to 4.4% from 4.6% the previous month.
Closing highs for the S&P 500 and Dow. Major U.S. indexes climbed on Friday and posted a winning week. The S&P 500 was up more than 1% week to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.3% and 1.9%, respectively. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.97%.
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