'Good news' says Trump as Iran decides against hanging 26-yr-old protester

Dubai | Washington: US President Donald Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran's crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions, adopting a wait-and-see posture after earlier threatening intervention.

After Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had "no plan" to hang people, Iranian state media on Thursday reported that a 26-year-old man arrested during protests in the city of Karaj would not be given the death sentence.

Rights organisation Hengaw, which reported earlier this week that Erfan Soltani was due to be executed on Wednesday, said a previously communicated order for his execution had been postponed, citing his relatives.


In a social media post on Thursday, Trump responded to a news report that an Iranian protester was no longer being sentenced to death, writing: "This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!"

Iranian state media said that while Soltani was being charged with colluding against "internal security and propaganda activities against the regime", the death penalty does not apply to such charges.

Trump's comments on Wednesday led oil prices to retreat from multi-month highs and gold eased from a record peak on Thursday.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene on behalf of protesters, where the clerical establishment has cracked down hard on nationwide unrest since December 28.

Demonstrations abate

People inside the country said the protests appear to have abated since Monday. Information flows have been hampered by an internet blackout for a week.

Tensions had escalated on Wednesday, with Iran saying it had warned neighbours it would hit American bases in the region in the event of US strikes, and a US official saying that they were withdrawing some personnel from bases in the region.

Trump, speaking at the White House, said he has been told that killings in the crackdown were subsiding. Asked who told him that the killings had stopped, Trump said a "very important sources on the other side."

The President did not rule out potential US military action, saying "we are going to watch what the process is" before noting that his administration had received a "very good statement" from Iran.

Trump also expressed uncertainty over whether Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran and a prominent figure in Iran's fractured opposition.