US President Donald Trump has said that he’s been told "on good authority" that plans for executions of protesters and their leaders in Iran have stopped, even as Tehran has signalled fast trials and executions ahead in its crackdown on anti-government protesters.
"We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping — it’s stopped — it’s stopping," Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
"And there’s no plan for executions, or an execution, or executions — so I’ve been told that on good authority."
Trump claims, which were made with few details, come as he’s told protesting Iranians in recent days that "help is on the way" and that his administration would "act accordingly" to respond to the Iranian government.
But Trump has not offered any details about how the US might respond and it wasn’t clear if his comments indicated he would hold off on action.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, said that Israel has always tried to draw the US into wars fought "on its behalf."
"Israel has always sought to drag the US into fighting wars on its behalf. But remarkably, this time they are saying the quiet part out loud," Araghchi wrote on X on Wednesday, quoting a post by Tamir Morag, a diplomatic affairs correspondent for Israel’s Channel 14.
Araghchi said Iran’s streets are "soaked in blood," accusing Israel of boasting about arming protesters, which he said was behind "hundreds of deaths."
Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Trump on Wednesday that the June strike on America’s military base in Qatar’s Al Udeid demonstrated "Iran's will and capability to respond to any attack".
Arch-foes Iran and Israel fought a 12-day war last year, with Israel and US launching a wave of strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, while Iran responded with drone and missile attacks on Israel.
