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Trump thanks Iran for not following through with over 800 prisoner executions
The post comes after Trump spent days suggesting that the US might strike Iran militarily if its government triggered mass killings
US President Donald Trump on Friday thanked the Iranian government for not following through on executions of what he said were meant to be hundreds of political prisoners.
While leaving the White House for spending weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump said, “Iran cancelled the hanging of over 800 people.” He also added that he "greatly respects the fact that they cancelled,” Associated Press quoted him saying.
Taking to the social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, “I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!”
The post comes after Trump spent days suggesting that the US might strike Iran militarily if its government triggered mass killings during widespread protests that swept that country.
The protests have killed at least 3,400 people so far, according to Norway-based independent organisation Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO).
Trump seemingly hinted that the prospects for US military action were fading since Iran had held off on the executions.
In his previous posts, Trump threatened Iran with strikes and posted, “Help is on the way.” But asked if that was still the case on Friday, he replied: “Well, we’re going to see.”
Questioned specifically if Arab and Israeli officials might have convinced him to back down on seeming suggestions that he would strike Iran, Trump said, “Nobody convinced me. I convinced myself.”
“You had yesterday scheduled over 800 hangings. They didn’t hang anyone,” he said. “They cancelled the hangings. That had a big impact,” Trump was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Trump did not clarify who he was speaking to in Iran to confirm the state of planned executions.
Widespread protests began in Iran over an ailing economy and morphed into protests directly challenging the country’s theocracy. An emergency meeting was also called on Thursday, where the UN Security Council discussed Iran's violent protests at the request of the United States.
(With inputs from AP)
