Iran protests slow as crackdown leaves thousands dead

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”.

Russia’s Vassily Nebenzia accused Washington of convening the meeting to “justify blatant aggression and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state”. Russia was the only council member to defend Tehran’s actions.

Britain’s deputy ambassador Archibald Young said “Iran must urgently change course” and respect rights “including the right to protest without fear of violence or repression”. France called for immediate release of all arbitrarily detained and suspension of the death penalty.

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.

Iranian authorities also softened their tone on Wednesday after a week of threatening retaliation. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged Washington to negotiate and said authorities had no plan to hang people, state media reported Thursday.

State media claimed 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, the first protester sentenced to death, would not be executed. Soltani had been scheduled for execution on Wednesday and had become an international symbol of the crackdown.

Yet despite Trump’s claims that killing had stopped, Iranian authorities continued targeting protesters. Media announced arrests of people labelled “terrorists” whilst the internet shutdown entered its seventh day, surpassing previous blackouts.

Authorities hunted for Starlink satellite dishes, posting pictures of seized shipments as they shut down one of the only ways protesters could communicate with the outside world.

State media broadcast footage Thursday of hardliner Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei personally interrogating detained women. One stood accused of messaging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Another, accused of dropping concrete blocks on security forces, said: “I don’t know what happened, why I did something so foolish.”

Rights groups raised alarms about forced confessions. Ejei, sanctioned by the US and EU, is accused by opposition groups of involvement in the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said: “Confessions that were obtained under coercion and torture being aired prior to legal proceedings violate the right of defendants to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Tehran has broadcast such confessions from the start, attempting to portray the movement as foreign-instigated destabilisation.

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.

The protests erupted on 28 December after the currency suddenly plummeted and quickly expanded into demands for political reform and even regime change. Demonstrations spread to all 31 provinces in the most serious unrest Iran has faced in decades.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday the government was addressing the issues that sparked protests, vowing to target corruption and price gouging to improve purchasing power.

Iran’s currency has lost two-thirds of its value over three years whilst food prices have jumped 72 per cent since last year.

Analysts said the protests expose deep systemic problems but state collapse remains unlikely. Israeli and Arab officials told Washington in recent days the regime is not yet weak enough for American strikes to topple it, NBC reported Tuesday.

Middle East leaders lobbied Trump hard against strikes that would have triggered Iranian counterstrikes on US bases across the region.

Some Iranians expressed disappointment on social media at Trump’s apparent retreat from military intervention. An AI image showing Trump pulling off a mask to reveal Barack Obama—whom diaspora Iranians view as soft on Tehran—spread widely.

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”.

(information from The Guardian)