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US President Donald Trump has said he had been informed the killing of protesters in Iran had ceased, though he cautioned that Washington would wait to confirm the situation before ruling out military action, as per an AFP report.
Trump has repeatedly suggested in recent days that the US could step in to support Iranians amid a violent crackdown on demonstrations that rights organisations say has claimed at least 3,428 lives.
Speaking unexpectedly at the White House, Trump said unnamed but "very important sources on the other side" had told him the Iranian authorities had halted the bloodshed and abandoned plans for executions.
"They've said the killing has stopped and the executions won't take place — there were supposed to be a lot of executions today and that the executions won't take place — and we're going to find out," Trump said.
As per the report, he did not provide further details and acknowledged that the claims had not yet been independently verified by the US.
When asked by an AFP reporter in the Oval Office whether US military intervention was no longer under consideration, Trump replied: "We're going to watch it and see what the process is."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later told Fox News that there would be "no hanging today or tomorrow," while alleging, without evidence, that Israel was behind the violence.
According to Araghchi, initially peaceful protests over economic hardship that began on December 28 spiralled into deadly unrest between January 7 and 10 after being infiltrated by outside "elements who had a plan to create a big number of killings in order to provoke President Trump to enter into this conflict and start a new war against Iran."
Iran’s justice minister, Amin Hossein Rahimi, echoed those claims in comments to state media, saying that after January 7 "those weren't protests any longer" and that anyone detained in the streets after that point "was definitely a criminal."
Trump has repeatedly suggested in recent days that the US could step in to support Iranians amid a violent crackdown on demonstrations that rights organisations say has claimed at least 3,428 lives.
Speaking unexpectedly at the White House, Trump said unnamed but "very important sources on the other side" had told him the Iranian authorities had halted the bloodshed and abandoned plans for executions.
"They've said the killing has stopped and the executions won't take place — there were supposed to be a lot of executions today and that the executions won't take place — and we're going to find out," Trump said.
As per the report, he did not provide further details and acknowledged that the claims had not yet been independently verified by the US.
When asked by an AFP reporter in the Oval Office whether US military intervention was no longer under consideration, Trump replied: "We're going to watch it and see what the process is."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later told Fox News that there would be "no hanging today or tomorrow," while alleging, without evidence, that Israel was behind the violence.
According to Araghchi, initially peaceful protests over economic hardship that began on December 28 spiralled into deadly unrest between January 7 and 10 after being infiltrated by outside "elements who had a plan to create a big number of killings in order to provoke President Trump to enter into this conflict and start a new war against Iran."
Iran’s justice minister, Amin Hossein Rahimi, echoed those claims in comments to state media, saying that after January 7 "those weren't protests any longer" and that anyone detained in the streets after that point "was definitely a criminal."
