Trump welcomes Iran move for mass executions as unrest subsides

• Trump says Iran has canceled mass hangings of protesters.
• Thank you Tehran.
• They claim that more than 800 executions were planned.

DUBAI: US President Donald Trump thanked Iran’s leaders for canceling what he said were hundreds of planned executions of protesters after a crackdown.

Speaking on his social media platform, he said the mass hangings had been called off and praised Tehran for the move, as deadly unrest across the country appears to be subsiding after a harsh crackdown.

US President Donald Trump, whose repeated threats of action have included a promise to “take very strong action” if Iran executes protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings.

“I greatly respect the fact that all the planned hangings, which were to take place yesterday (over 800 of them), were canceled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” uploaded to social media.

Iran has not publicly announced plans for such executions or said it had canceled them.

The protests erupted on December 28 over economic woes and turned into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of the current government, culminating in mass violence late last week. According to opposition groups and an Iranian official, more than 2,000 people have been killed in the worst civil unrest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

However, several Tehran residents contacted by Reuters said the capital had now been relatively quiet for four days. Drones flew over the city, but there were no signs of major protests on Thursday or Friday. Another resident in a northern city on the Caspian Sea said the streets there also seemed calm. The residents declined to be named for their safety.

Prospect of retreat of the US attack

The prospect of a US strike has receded since Wednesday, when Trump said he had been told the killings in Iran were easing. But more US military assets were expected to arrive in the region, pointing to continued tensions.

US allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, conducted intense diplomacy with Washington this week to prevent a US strike, warning of repercussions in the wider region that would ultimately affect the United States, a Gulf official said.

Israel’s intelligence chief David Barnea was also in the US on Friday for talks on Iran, according to a source familiar with the matter, and an Israeli military official said the country’s forces were on “high alert”.

As the internet blackout eased this week, more accounts of the violence have poured out.

A woman in Tehran said Reuters by phone that her daughter was killed a week ago after participating in a demonstration near their home.

“She was 15 years old. She was not a terrorist, she was not a rioter. Basij forces followed her as she tried to return home,” she said, referring to a branch of the security forces often used to quell riots.

The US is expected to send additional offensive and defensive capabilities to the region, but the exact composition of those forces and the timing of their arrival were still unclear, said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The US military’s Central Command declined to comment, saying it does not discuss ship movements.

Pahlavi calls for increased pressure

Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s last shah who has gained increasing prominence as an opposition figure, urged the international community on Friday to step up pressure on Tehran to help protesters turn the tide.

“The Iranian people are taking decisive action on the ground. It is now time for the international community to fully join them,” said Pahlavi, whose level of support inside Iran is hard to gauge.

Trump this week appeared to play down the idea of ​​US support for Pahlavi, expressing uncertainty that the exiled crown prince who has won support from Western countries could muster significant support inside Iran. Pahlavi met with US envoy Steve Witkoff last weekend, Worthy was mentioned.

The Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw said there had been no protest rallies since Sunday, but “the security environment remains extremely restrictive.”

“Our independent sources confirm a strong military and security presence in cities and towns where protests have previously taken place, as well as in many locations where there have been no major protests,” Norway-based Hengaw said in comments to Reuters.

Reports of sporadic disturbances

However, there were still signs of unrest in some areas. Hengaw reported that a female nurse was killed by direct fire from government forces during protests in Karaj, west of Tehran. Reuters was unable to independently verify the report.

The state-run Tasnim news agency reported that rioters set fire to a local education office in Falabarjan County, central Isfahan province, on Thursday.

An elderly resident of a city in Iran’s northwestern region, home to many Kurdish Iranians and which has been the focus of many of the biggest outbreaks, said sporadic protests continued, though not as intense.

Describing the violence earlier in the protests, he said: “I have never seen scenes like this before.”

Video circulating online, which Reuters was able to verify was recorded at a forensic center in Tehran, showed dozens of bodies lying on floors and stretchers, most in bags but some uncovered. Reuters was unable to verify the date of the video.

State broadcaster Press TV quoted Iran’s police chief as saying calm had been restored across the country.

The death toll reported by the US-based human rights group HRANA has risen slightly since Wednesday, now at 2,677 people, including 2,478 protesters and 163 people identified as linked to the government.

Reuters could not independently verify HRANA’s death toll. An Iranian official told the news agency earlier this week that about 2,000 people had been killed.

The death toll dwarfs the death toll from previous periods of state-suppressed unrest, including in 2009 and 2022.