Iran protests slow as crackdown leaves thousands dead

Dubai: US President Donald Trump pulled back from threatened military strikes against Iran on Wednesday, claiming authorities had halted 800 scheduled executions, as a brutal crackdown that has killed at least 2,637 people appeared to slow nationwide protests, according to a Guardian report.

Trump told reporters the Iranian government was stopping killings. “We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping, it’s stopped, it’s stopping,” he said. “And there’s no plan for executions, or an execution, or execution so I’ve been told that on good authority.”

The reversal came just two days after Trump urged Iranians to “keep protesting – take over your institutions”, promising “help is on its way”. Intelligence assessments had indicated Washington was preparing strikes after Trump threatened military action if Iran’s government killed protesters.

Tehran residents reported calmer streets on Thursday as gunfire faded and fires were extinguished, contrasting sharply with previous weeks when large crowds confronted security forces. The crackdown has imprisoned tens of thousands.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s team had warned of “grave consequences” if killings continued. “The president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday, were halted,” she said, adding that “all options remain on the table for the president”.

At the UN Security Council on Thursday night, divisions emerged over Iran’s response to the unrest. US ambassador Mike Waltz said Washington stands by the “brave people of Iran” and Trump “has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter”.

Iran’s deputy UN ambassador Hossein Darzi hit back, accusing the US of “direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence“. He said Washington was “attempting to portray itself as a friend of the Iranian people, whilst simultaneously laying the groundwork for political destabilisation and military intervention under a so-called ‘humanitarian’ narrative”.

Across Europe, thousands of exiled Iranians have taken to the streets to shout out their rage at the government of the Islamic Republic which has cracked down on protests in their homeland, reportedly killing thousands of people.

Trump reviewed strike options but sources said he was unconvinced any single action would topple the regime. The president has pulled off misleading feints with Iran before—in June he suggested nuclear negotiations were underway when actually preparing strikes for last summer’s 12-day war.

At least 2,637 people have been killed, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. An Iranian Red Crescent staffer died in northern Iran on Saturday and five colleagues were wounded, prompting calls for protection of humanitarian workers.

G7 foreign ministers said they were “prepared to impose additional restrictive measures” on Iran over the “deliberate use of violence, the killing of protesters, arbitrary detention and intimidation tactics”.

Meanwhile President Vladimir Putin on Friday dialled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to discuss the crisis situation in West Asia amid threats of a US strike on Tehran.