Trump leaves U.S. military action unclear as Iran says it won’t execute protesters
But Trump told reporters that he had learned the Iranian regime had stopped killing protesters and halted plans for executions, either of which he had said could trigger a U.S. military response. And Iran’s judiciary said Thursday that a man feared to be facing execution would not face the death penalty.
Trump posted on Truth Social early Thursday that this was “good news. Hopefully, it will continue!”
Erfan Soltani, 26, was expected to be the first protester to face execution, according to the State Department and human rights groups.
However, Iran’s judiciary said Thursday that he had not been sentenced to capital punishment. Soltani’s charge of “colluding against the country’s internal security and propaganda activities against the regime” did not carry the death penalty but he remained behind bars, state media reported.
The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, based in Norway, said his execution had been “postponed,” citing information from Soltani’s relatives. Amnesty International said the same, citing a source.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also appeared to step back from official calls for rapid justice by saying that there would not be “any hanging today or tomorrow or whatever,” he told Fox News. “I’m confident about that. There is no plan for hanging at all.”
Earlier in the day Trump said in the Oval Office, “It’s stopped. It’s stopping, and there’s no plan for executions.”
Discussing the response from security forces, Trump said that “people were shooting at them with guns, and they were shooting back,” adding: “And you know, it’s one of those things.”
Trump is ready to follow through on his repeated promises to protesters that the U.S. would intervene militarily to support them, but has told his advisers he would want any action to deliver a swift and decisive blow to the regime, according to a U.S. official, two people familiar with the discussions and a person close to the White House.
They have so far not been able to give him that guarantee, the sources said.
