United States (US) President Donald Trump has thanked the leadership in Tehran for cancelling what he said were “hundreds of planned executions of protesters” after a crackdown.
In a social media post, President Trump said the mass hangings had been called off and praised Iran for the move, as deadly unrest across the country appears to be easing after a harsh crackdown.
Trump, whose repeated threats to act had included a vow to “take very strong action” if Iran executed protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” he said in the social media statement.
Iran, however, has not publicly announced plans for such executions or said it had cancelled them.
The protests that erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of present rule, culminating in mass violence at the end of last week, Reuters reported.
According to opposition groups and an Iranian official, more than 2,000 people were killed in the worst domestic unrest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But several residents of Tehran reached by Reuters said the capital had now been comparatively quiet for four days. Drones were flying over the city, but there had been no sign of major protests on Thursday or Friday.
Another resident in a northern city on the Caspian Sea said the streets there also appeared calm.
The prospect of a US attack has retreated since Wednesday when Trump said he had been told killings in Iran were easing.
Earlier, US allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, conducted intense diplomacy with Washington to prevent a strike, warning of repercussions for the wider region that would ultimately impact the US, Reuters quoted a Gulf official as saying.
Meanwhile, Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s last shah who has gained increasing prominence as an opposition figure, urged the international community to ramp up pressure on Tehran to help protesters overthrow the present setup.
“The Iranian people are taking decisive action on the ground. It is now time for the international community to join them fully,” he said.