Iran poses a far more dangerous military test for the US than Venezuela, experts warn
Fresh off a successful operation in Venezuela, the U.S. is weighing its options as Iran’s leadership launches a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters — raising questions about whether similar military pressure could be applied to Tehran, Iran. In Caracas, Venezuela, U.S. special operators moved quickly to capture Nicolás Maduro. In Tehran, Iran, any comparable effort would unfold against a state with greater military depth and the ability to strike back well beyond its borders. “Thinking of this as an operation, as in the case of Venezuela or the nuclear program, is the wrong framing,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. “This has to be seen as a campaign.” Iran is a larger, more capable military power than Venezuela, with security forces designed to protect the regime from both foreign attack and internal unrest. Power is distributed across clerical institutions, security services and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a structure built to survive the loss of individual leaders rather than collapse with them. IRAN GOES DARK AS REGIME UNLEASHES FORCE, CYBER TOOLS TO CRUSH PROTESTS “Musical chairs at the top is highly unlikely to work in Iran,” Taleblu said. He pointed to the central role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he described as “the tip of the spear of the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism,” warning that removing a single figure would leave a hardened security apparatus intact — and potentially more dangerous. That structure is backed by a military capability Venezuela never possessed: a resilient missile force that gives Iran credible options for retaliation if it believes the regime itself is under threat. US RAID IN VENEZUELA SIGNALS DETERRENCE TO ADVERSARIES ON THREE FRONTS, EXPERTS SAY “The retaliatory capability of the Islamic Republic is still fairly intact, which is their missile program,” Taleblu said. During heavy Israeli strikes in the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, Iran’s missile force was degraded but not eliminated. While air defenses and launch infrastructure were damaged, Tehran, Iran, retains a significant inventory of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and the ability to disperse and fire them from mobile launchers. Analysts say the conflict reinforced Iran’s reliance on missiles as its primary deterrent, even as it accepted that air defenses could be penetrated. During the war, Israel degraded Iran’s air defenses while the U.S. moved in to strike its nuclear facilities. Iran’s armed forces also are far larger than Venezuela’s, with nearly 1 million active and reserve personnel compared with roughly 120,000 troops in Venezuela — a disparity that underscores the very different military environments U.S. planners would face. Iran’s antagonism toward the United States is rooted in the ideology of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which cast opposition to Western influence — particularly the U.S. and Israel — as a core principle of the state. Venezuela’s clashes with Washington, by contrast, largely have been driven by political power, sanctions and control over oil revenues, rather than a revolutionary ideology aimed at opposing Western society itself. In Venezuela, Trump administration officials framed the operation not as regime change, but as a limited action to advance U.S. interests — prosecuting Maduro on drug trafficking charges and securing leverage over the country’s oil sector. After Maduro’s capture, Trump allowed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to assume power on an interim basis and expressed doubt that opposition leader María Machado had sufficient internal support to govern. In Iran, by contrast, any military action would be interpreted as a direct challenge to the regime itself. Unlike Venezuela, where the state apparatus remained intact after Maduro’s removal, targeting Iran’s leadership risks expanding the mission from a narrow strike into a broader campaign against the regime’s security forces. “You could conduct an attack against the leadership, including the supreme leader, but that raises lots of questions about who comes next,” Seth Jones, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Pentagon official, told Fox News Digital. “Is it Khamenei’s son? Is it Sadegh Larijani? Is it Hassan Khameini?” Jones said, referring to figures often discussed as potential successors. “Or do you start to look at other options?” That uncertainty, Jones said, is what turns a leadership-targeting strike into a far broader and riskier proposition. TRUMP SIGNALS LONG ROAD AHEAD IN VENEZUELA IN HIS BOLDEST INTERVENTIONIST MOVE YET “The more this starts to be not just the removal of a leader, but regime change, the more it becomes an expansive targeting problem,” Jones said. Jones added that the core challenge for U.S. planners is not whether military force could be used, but what political objective it would serve. “The big question then becomes what’s the objective — not just militarily, but what’s the political objective in Iran and how does that translate into what types of military resources you need?” he said. Such an expansion, Jones warned, would raise the risk of a prolonged and destabilizing conflict in a country of Iran’s size and complexity. “The more you start looking at regime change and using military force for that, the more messy the situation in Iran could get,” Jones said. “It’s really hard to social engineer from the outside.”
Republicans, Democrats say no to US military strike against Iran as Trump mulls action: poll
Democrats and Republicans are united in opposing U.S. military strikes against Iran to retaliate for the killing of protesters amid a wave of massive demonstrations against the Iranian government in recent weeks, according to a new national poll. Seventy percent of voters questioned in a new Quinnipiac University survey said they think the U.S. should not get involved militarily in Iran, with 18% saying the U.S. should take military action. The vast majority of Independents (80%-11%) and Democrats (79%-7%), as well as a majority of Republicans (53%-35%) said the U.S. should not get involved if protesters in Iran are killed while demonstrating against the regime. The poll, conducted Jan. 9–12, comes as President Donald Trump has turned up the heat on the regime in Tehran, threatening strikes on Iran if its forces continue to kill demonstrators. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING, ANALYSIS ON IRAN PROTESTS The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency announced Tuesday that nearly 2,000 people have been killed in the protests. Other reports say the death toll is over 3,000, with the real number likely to be even higher. The protests against Iran’s dire economic conditions, which have rapidly escalated in recent days, are seen as some of the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed the current system of clerical rule. IRAN REGIME FACES ‘BEGINNING OF THE END’ AS EXILED CROWN PRINCE SEES ‘GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY’ Trump took to social media earlier this week, urging “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS.” The president also said that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” and apparently pointing to Iranian authorities, he warned, “They will pay a big price.” Pointing to the possibility of Iranian authorities executing some of the protesters, Trump said in a CBS News interview this week, “If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action.” And the White House confirmed on Monday that Trump was weighing whether to bomb Iran in reaction to the crackdown. But seven in 10 questioned in the poll said that, in general, a president should first receive congressional approval before deciding to take military action against another country. SOME US MILITARY PERSONNEL TOLD TO LEAVE MIDDLE EAST BASES, US OFFICIAL CONFIRMS “Talk of the U.S. military potentially intervening in Iran’s internal chaos gets a vigorous thumbs down, while voters signal congressional approval should be a backstop against military involvement in any foreign crisis,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said. But there’s a partisan divide, with 95% of Democrats and 78% of Independents saying a president should first receive approval from Congress, but Republicans, by a 54%-35% margin, saying congressional approval is not needed. Trump last June ordered U.S. military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities as part of Operation Midnight Hammer, amid fighting between Tehran and Israel. Voters are also divided on Trump’s move earlier this month to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and bring them to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges. Forty-seven percent supported the president’s decision, with 45% opposed. And there was an expected partisan divide, with 85% of Republicans supporting the military action to capture Maduro, with 79% of Democrats opposed. Independents were divided. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING More than half of voters (57%) opposed the U.S. running Venezuela until Washington is satisfied that the government there will operate the way the U.S. wants it to. Nearly three-quarters (73%) said they opposed sending U.S. ground troops to Venezuela and 55% opposed the U.S. taking over the South American country’s oil sales. “Voters are divided on the merits of overthrowing Maduro. And while split on whether in the long run the people of Venezuela will be better off, they strongly disapprove of America’s temporary domain over Venezuela and are heartily against putting U.S. troops on the ground,” Malloy noted. Trump has also turned up the volume in his efforts to acquire Greenland from Denmark. “The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of national security,” the president argued in a social media post Wednesday. Trump’s push for the U.S. to acquire Greenland is causing tension with Denmark and other NATO allies who insist that the semiautonomous Danish territory should determine its own future. Trump officials are openly considering all options, including military force, to take Greenland, spurring bipartisan opposition from some in Congress. According to the poll, 86% of voters said they would oppose military action to take over Greenland. And by a 55%-37% margin, voters said they opposed trying to buy Greenland. But there’s a stark political divide, with more than two-thirds of Republicans supporting efforts to buy or capture Greenland.
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NewsFeed Western leaders are condemning Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests, but many of those same nations are accused of suppressing their own citizens’ protest rights. Al Jazeera’s Nada Qaddourah looks at the allegations of double standards. Published On 14 Jan 202614 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
Uganda faces mounting calls to end internet blackout before elections
Amnesty International says internet blackout ‘especially alarming’ as election campaign ‘marred by massive repression’. Published On 14 Jan 202614 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Uganda is facing mounting calls to lift a nationwide internet blackout before a contentious election, with the United Nations saying the government-imposed restrictions are “deeply worrying”. In a social media post on Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Office stressed that “open access to communication & information is key to free & genuine elections”. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “All Ugandans must be able to take part in shaping their future & the future of their country,” it said. The call comes a day after a Ugandan government regulatory body instructed mobile network operators to block public internet access, starting on Tuesday evening, as the East African country readied for a January 15 general election. Internet monitor NetBlocks said in its latest update on Wednesday that Uganda was “in the midst of a widespread internet shutdown”. “Far from halting misinformation, the measure is likely to limit transparency and increase the risk of vote fraud,” the group warned. The government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 81, has been accused of overseeing a years-long crackdown on its critics, arresting political opposition leaders and their supporters. Museveni is being challenged in Thursday’s vote by pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine, whose campaign rallies have been routinely disrupted by the Ugandan authorities. The UN Human Rights Office last week warned that Ugandans would be heading to the polls amid “widespread repression and intimidation against the political opposition, human rights defenders, journalists and those with dissenting views”. Advertisement The Uganda Communications Commission defended the internet shutdown as necessary to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks”. But Tigere Chagutah, the East and Southern Africa regional director at Amnesty International, condemned the restrictions as “a brazen attack on the right to freedom of expression”. “It is especially alarming coming as it does just before a crucial election already marred by massive repression and an unprecedented crackdown on opposition parties and dissenting voices,” Chagutah said in a statement on Wednesday. “Blanket shutdowns disrupt people’s mobility, livelihoods and their ability to access vital information. They are inherently disproportionate under international human rights law and must never be imposed.” Widespread violence during Uganda’s last general elections campaign, in 2021, left at least 54 people dead, according to Human Rights Watch, while the authorities also cut off social media and internet access. Adblock test (Why?)
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