Iran protest killings have halted, Trump claims, as Tehran says executions are ‘out of the question’ | Iran

Donald Trump said he had been assured that the killing of protesters in Iran had stopped, adding that the US would “monitor and see” the threat of military intervention as tensions appeared to ease on Wednesday night.

Trump has repeatedly talked in recent days about coming to the aid of the Iranian people in the crackdown on protests that the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group says has killed at least 3,428 people and led to the arrest of more than 10,000 people so far.

However, in a surprise statement at the White House, Trump said he had received assurances from “very important sources on the other side” that Tehran had now stopped using lethal force against protesters and that executions would not occur.

“They said the killings stopped and the executions weren’t going to happen — there were supposed to be a lot of executions today and the executions weren’t going to happen — and we’re going to find out,” Trump said.

He gave no details and noted that the United States had not yet confirmed the allegations.

Asked whether US military intervention was now off the table, Trump said: “We’ll monitor it and see what the process is.”

In a surprise development, Iranian state media announced on Thursday morning that Erfan Soltani, who reportedly faces imminent execution, has not been sentenced to death, according to Reuters.

Earlier, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News that Iran has no plans to execute people in retaliation for anti-government protests. “Hanging is out of the question,” he said.

The moves to de-escalate tensions came after the movement sparked concerns that military intervention might be imminent. Iran closed its airspace to almost all flights without explanation early Thursday, and airlines including Lufthansa said their flights would avoid Iranian and Iraqi airspace “until further notice.”

Some personnel at a major US military base in Qatar have been advised to evacuate, and the US embassy in Kuwait has also ordered its staff to temporarily stop traveling to several military bases in the small Gulf Arab nation. The US embassy in Saudi Arabia also urged its staff to exercise caution and avoid military installations.

A senior Iranian official said Tehran has told regional countries that host US bases, such as Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, that it will attack those bases in the event of a US attack. In June, Iran struck al-Udeid after the United States struck Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities; but the attack was telegraphed and largely symbolic.

While Britain temporarily closed its embassy in Tehran, Spain, Poland and Italy called on their citizens to leave the country.

But Iran’s airspace was reopened hours later, and Araghchi used a Fox News interview to tone down the rhetoric and urge the United States to find a negotiated solution.

Asked what he would say to Trump, Araghchi said: “My message is that between war and diplomacy, diplomacy is the better way, although we do not have any positive experience from the United States. But still diplomacy is much better than war.”

Trump’s latest comments led to a sharp 3% drop in oil prices as concerns about a possible disruption to global supply eased. Gold and silver also fell following the news.

Crude oil prices have been on the rise in recent days when Trump talked about coming to the aid of Iranian protesters.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday night, Trump expressed uncertainty about whether exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi could muster enough support inside Iran to challenge the regime.

“He seems like a very nice guy, but I don’t know how he’ll play in his own country,” Trump said. “And we’re not there yet. I don’t know if his country will accept his leadership, and if they do, I wouldn’t mind that.”

The UN security council will meet on Thursday afternoon for “a briefing on the situation in Iran”, according to the Somali presidential spokesman.

Foreign ministers from the G7 group said they were “ready to impose additional restrictive measures” against Iran over its handling of the protests and its “deliberate use of violence, killings of protesters, arbitrary detention and intimidation tactics”.

With Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse