Trump’s 'Make Iran Great Again' photo fuels anticipation over next moves

A new photo of US President Donald Trump posing with a “Make Iran Great Again” hat is ramping up suspense over US intentions as protests there which Trump vowed to protect are being met with deadly force.

The photo, posted on Senator Lindsey Graham’s account on X, shows the two men smiling aboard Air Force One as Trump holds the hat which he has signed.

Trump first deployed the slogan at the height of a 12-day war in June, saying that if Iran’s rulers couldn’t “make Iran great again,” regime change should be on the table.

“God bless and protect the brave people of Iran who are standing up to tyranny,” Graham wrote, referring to nationwide protests now in their ninth day.

Holly Dagres, an Iran expert at the Washington Institute, told Iran International that while the photo leaves room for interpretation it at least shows the Iran issue is on the president's radar.

“While much of the world’s focus is squarely on Venezuela, President Donald Trump’s comments about the ongoing protests and posing with the MIGA hat suggest his mind is also on Iran,” Dagres said.

“It’s hard to interpret what the president’s next steps are, but the clerical establishment won’t be resting easy," she said.

Demonstrators across Iran continue to chant slogans against the country’s supreme leader in protests which entered their ninth day.

Trump has twice warned that the United States will respond forcefully if Iranian authorities kill protesters. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 19 protesters and one member of the security forces have been killed so far.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, suggested the message could ripple beyond the White House.

“Hopefully his statement has a contagion effect in the Congress and helps the administration adhere to its own red line about standing by the Iranian people and taking down their apparatus of repression,” he told Iran International.

Others see the moment as part of a broader warning directed at Tehran. Kamran Matin, who teaches International Relations at Sussex University in Britain, described Trump’s messaging as layered and intentional.

“More broadly, the remarkable success of Trump in leading targeted and consequential operations, from the assassination of Qassem Soleimani to the bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites to the seizure of Nicolas Maduro has likely increased Trump’s appetite for using limited military force to achieve political ends in Iran now that the regime is in its weakest point,” he told Iran International.

The image has fueled anticipation online about whether Trump might pursue tougher measures toward Tehran, particularly after the US seizure of Venezuela and previous strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Greg Brew, an Iran analyst with the Eurasia Group, told Iran International the symbolism of the photo could suggest a willingness to go further.

“Trump has already secured for himself a legacy of doing what no other president would do — bombing Iran’s nuclear program. But recent protests and the success of the Maduro operation suggest he may go further,” Brew said.

Maduro’s shock fall echoes uneasily in Tehran

Jan 5, 2026, 17:15 GMT

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Maryam Sinaiee

The seizing of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro by US forces over the weekend has sharpened debates in Tehran about President Donald Trump’s endgame in Iran, as anti-government protests across the country enter a second week.

The episode has prompted comparisons—sometimes uneasy, sometimes fiercely rejected—between Venezuela’s trajectory and Iran’s own.

Strikes and protests have spread to dozens of Iranian cities in recent days, sharpening questions about economic exhaustion and public legitimacy.

Former Iranian diplomat Fereydoun Majlesi told the Shargh newspaper that Maduro’s detention reflected Washington’s current logic: maximal displays of power and deterrence. “Maduro’s arrest was not just a political act but a deterrent message to other players,” he said.

Foreign policy analyst Ali Bigdeli also told Shargh that while a direct U.S. attack on Iran would require congressional approval, the Venezuela episode showed that covert actions or security pretexts remained possible.

“Without a serious revision of foreign policy and adaptation to new global conditions, continuing the old path will not only fail but impose greater costs,” he warned.

‘Erosion of trust’

Even sources close to the establishment reflected unease, albeit more subtly.

Khabar Online, a moderate outlet close to security chief Ali Larijani, highlighted US sanctions on Venezuela while also pointing to mismanagement and corruption.

“Maduro’s fall was not the product of a single factor, but the outcome of accumulated crises long ignored,” the commentary argued, landing on a phrase widely used in reference to Iran’s own condition: “erosion of public trust.”

Political analyst Sadegh Maleki was more direct.

“Maduro, like (Syria’s) Assad, ruled without heartfelt popular backing,” he told Shargh. “Governments that create distance between themselves and the people are more vulnerable to external operations.”

‘Not comparable’

Conservative voices, however, moved quickly to dismiss any analogy. Gholamreza Sadeghian, editor-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Javan daily, was blunt in his assessment. “Iran Is Not Comparable—Don’t Waste Your Time,” he headlined his Sunday editorial.

Washington’s threats, Sadeghian wrote, were not a sign of strength but part of a “repetitive and failed spectacle,” adding that “America neither has the capacity for final victory nor the ability to reshape the global order in its favor.”

Hardline newspapers denounced the US action as an “open kidnapping,” a “violation of the UN Charter,” and a “raid on Venezuela’s oil.”

Commentators argued that Washington’s aim was to gain leverage over global energy markets and consolidate geopolitical influence by controlling the country’s vast reserves.

The lesson, hardliners argued, was that Iran should never engage in talks with the United States, noting that Maduro was detained shortly after he signaled readiness to negotiate with Trump.

‘Military power not enough’

Kayhan newspaper, which is funded by the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader, claimed that Venezuelans had taken to the streets in support of Maduro and declared they would not allow their country to be occupied.

Ultraconservative lawmaker Javad Karimi-Ghodousi went further, predicting that Maduro would return to Venezuela “as a hero.” Trump, he added on X, would “be slapped by America’s revolutionary youth and fall into the dustbin of history.”

A more measured assessment came from the moderate outlet Rouydad24.

An editorial argued that the two countries’ situations were fundamentally different and rejected “fear of collapse,” while still suggesting that Maduro’s fate offered a lesson for Tehran on the need to address economic and social demands.

“Venezuela showed that even military structures cannot endure without sustainable social backing,” the site wrote.