No sign of new protests in Iran as a hard-line cleric calls for executions and threatens Trump
But Trump struck a conciliatory note, thanking Iran’s leaders for not executing hundreds of detained protesters, another sign he may be backing away from a military strike. Executions and the killing of peaceful protesters are two of the red lines Trump has drawn for possible action against Iran.
The harsh crackdown, which left thousands dead, appears to have succeeded in suppressing demonstrations that began on December 28 over Iran’s ailing economy and turned into protests that directly challenged the country’s theocracy.
There have been no signs of protests for days in Tehran, where shopping and street life have returned to normal despite a week-long internet outage. Authorities reported no unrest elsewhere in the country.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Trump said, “Iran canceled the execution of more than 800 people” and added, “I have great respect for their cancellation.”
Trump did not say who he spoke to in Iran to confirm the status of the planned executions.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency announced the death toll as 3,090 on Friday. The number continues to rise, surpassing any other protests or unrest in Iran for decades and reminiscent of the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution. The agency has provided accurate information throughout the years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists who have verified all reported deaths in Iran. The AP could not independently verify the toll. The Iranian government did not disclose casualty figures.
Hardline cleric’s impassioned sermon In contrast, Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami’s sermon on Iranian state radio sparked chants among those gathered for prayer, including: “Armed hypocrites must be executed!”
Khatami, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts and the Guardian Council who has long been known for his hard-line views, described the protesters as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “servants” and “Trump’s soldiers.” He said Netanyahu and Trump should expect “harsh revenge from the system.”
“Americans and Zionists should not expect peace,” the cleric said.
His fiery speech came as Iran and U.S. allies seek to defuse tensions. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with both Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia had previously remained largely silent on the protests. Moscow has seen many of its key allies suffer blows while its resources and focus have been drained by the 4-year war against Ukraine; These include the 2024 overthrow of Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran last year, and the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro this month.
Exiled Iranian royal calls for fight to continue Days after Trump promised protesters “help is on the way,” both the demonstrations and the prospect of imminent US retaliation appeared to have receded. Senior officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have expressed concerns to Trump that U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region, a diplomat told The Associated Press.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi called on the United States to fulfill its promise to intervene. Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown during Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, said he still believes in the president’s promise to help.
“I believe the president is a man of his word,” Pahlavi told reporters in Washington. he said. “Whether action is taken or not, we as Iranians have no choice to continue the fight,” he added.
“I will return to Iran,” he promised. Hours later, he called on protesters to take to the streets again from Saturday to Monday.
Despite the support of diehard monarchists in the diaspora, Pahlavi struggled to gain wider traction in Iran. However, this did not prevent him from presenting himself as the interim leader of Iran in case the government falls.
Iranian officials list damage from protests Hard-line cleric Khatami also provided the first general statistics on damage from the protests, claiming that 350 mosques, 126 places of worship and 20 other holy sites were damaged. 80 houses of Friday prayer imams, an important position in the Iranian theocracy, were also damaged; This likely reflects the demonstrators’ anger at government symbols.
He said 400 hospitals, 106 ambulances, 71 fire trucks and 50 emergency vehicles were also damaged.
Although protests appeared to have been suppressed in Iran, thousands of exiled Iranians and their supporters took to the streets in cities across Europe to voice their anger at the Islamic Republic’s government.
During the ongoing internet blackout, some Iranians have crossed borders to communicate with the outside world. A group of Iranians who crossed the border gate in Türkiye’s eastern Van province on Friday said they were traveling to overcome the communications blackout.
“I will return to Iran after the internet opens,” said one traveler, who gave only his name (Mahdi) out of security concerns.
Some Turkish citizens fleeing the unrest in Iran also crossed the border.
Mehmet Önder, 47, was in Tehran for textile business when the protests broke out. He said that he did not show up at his hotel until it was closed for security reasons, and then he stayed with one of his clients until he returned to Türkiye.
Önder said that although he did not go out, he heard intense gunshots.
“I understand guns because I served in the military in southeastern Türkiye,” he said. “The weapons they fired were not simple guns. They were machine guns.”
A Kurdish separatist group in Iraq has launched attacks on Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days in retaliation for Tehran’s crackdown on protests, a Kurdish separatist group in Iraq said in a sign of the conflict’s potential to spill over.
A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) said its members “play a role in the protests through both financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when necessary.” The group said the attacks were carried out by members of its military wing in Iran.
