Iran is Burning: 500+ Dead, Trump Warns Strikes if Khamenei Regime Kills Peaceful Protesters
Making the Argument with Nick Freitas
Nick Freitas
4.9 • 993 Ratings
🗓️ 12 January 2026
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Iran says it’s "under control". Rights groups say hundreds are dead and thousands arrested. And Trump’s weighing what comes next. Is it sanctions, cyber, Starlink… or is it strikes?
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00:00:00 Iran Erupts: Nationwide Protests, Death Toll Claims, Trump’s Warning
00:08:00 Protest Footage + Early Signals: What This Movement Looks Like on the Ground
00:16:00 Who Really Runs the Crackdown: IRGC Basics + Why the Regime Depends on Them
00:24:00 IRGC Capabilities: Provinces, Militia, Navy/Air, Cyber + How They Control Iran
00:32:00 “America First” vs Intervention: Trump Options, Red Lines, and the Risk Debate
00:40:00 Bigger Context: Iran, Israel, Sunni/Shia Dynamics, and Why the Region Cares
00:48:00 What to Watch Next: Momentum, Propaganda Rallies, Blackouts, Non-Kinetic Support
00:56:00 Endgame Scenarios: Regime Fractures, Military Loyalty, Strategic Strikes, Wrap-Up
00:64:00 Shoutouts, Gifts, Community Plug + Final Close
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Iran is on fire right now. There are reports of protests in all 31 provinces of the country. |
| 0:07.4 | The Ayatollah's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is cracking down on them with reports now |
| 0:12.2 | going above 500 deaths as a result of the protests and the IRGCs crack down. |
| 0:17.3 | Donald Trump has said that if they persist, that the United States might become |
| 0:21.1 | directly involved in order to provide protection for the protesters. Former Crown Prince, |
| 0:26.2 | Reza Pavali, is encouraging the protests. And the question right now is, is there an actual chance |
| 0:31.2 | for the Ayatollahs to lose control of Iran for the first time since 1979? And what, if any, |
| 0:37.4 | role should the United States play in it? Those are the discussion topics and the questions that we hope to answer on today's episode of Making the Argument. I'm your host, Nick Freitas. All right, let's jump in with an overview real quick. This one comes from dw.com. And this is kind of the what you need to know. We will look through a lot of these and found this one did a pretty good overview of what's taking place right now so mass |
| 0:57.9 | anti-government protests in iran are in their third week despite what activists call a brutal clampdown |
| 1:03.8 | iran wants to negotiate u.s president donald trump says this is going to be interesting because |
| 1:08.7 | iran is theoretically talking about |
| 1:11.4 | negotiating with the United States on nuclear deals. |
| 1:14.8 | And I think this is somewhat if we don't become more actively involved in what could be seen |
| 1:19.8 | as the overthrow of the current Ayatollah regime. |
| 1:22.7 | Iran government declares National Resistance March on Monday. |
| 1:25.2 | So they're trying to push back saying that this is a resistance group, a rebel group, and that they still have support from the general population. |
| 1:32.0 | At least 496 protesters and 48 members of security forces have been killed, according to a U.S. |
| 1:37.0 | based rights group. |
| 1:38.1 | Those numbers have actually increased since this report came out. |
| 1:41.1 | Diaspora Iranians protest in cities across Europe to include in Los Angeles, |
| 1:45.7 | where somebody decided to ram into one of those protests with a U-hole. |
| 1:50.6 | Israel's Netanyahu and Sarvoiced support for the demonstrations. That should be expected. |
... |
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