Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has denied that Tehran plans to execute antigovernment protestors, after United States President Donald Trump said he had received assurances that killings of demonstrators in Iran had stopped.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Araghchi said “there is no plan for hanging at all” when asked whether there were plans to execute protesters.
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“Hanging is out of the question,” he said.
Araghchi’s remarks came after Trump earlier told reporters that he had been assured that killings of protesters in Iran had stopped and that planned executions were halted.
Speaking hours after the US began to withdraw some personnel from an airbase in Qatar amid growing fears of a renewed US-Iran conflict, Trump said he had spoken to “very important sources on the other side”, and he would watch how the crisis developed, although he did not rule out potential US military action.
“We are going to watch what the process is”, he said, before noting the US administration received a “very good statement” from Iran.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said that the president’s comments on Wednesday signalled a softening of his tone towards Iran.
“It does appear that he’s still mulling over various options; he’s been briefed by his national security council, but these statements we’ve just heard do indicate a potential cooling down of the situation and President Trump backing away from the precipice of imminent action, which he has been threatening,” he said.
Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s claim that he had received information indicating killings in Iran had stopped appears, on the surface, to be a “face-saving way” to avoid military intervention, though it does not entirely rule out such a conflict.
“It’s hard to take what Trump says seriously, but we do know that he’s had an aversion to getting sucked into big, open-ended military conflicts, and with Iran, that risk was on the table,” Toossi told Al Jazeera.
“This remark today suggests he’s looking for a face-saving way out, but I wouldn’t take it as 100 percent ruling that out,” he said, adding that Trump has a track record of negotiating with Iran while simultaneously threatening military action.
Trump has threatened Iran with military strikes in the past as a means of pressuring Tehran into greater alignment with US demands, and has said during the last week that a harsh response by Iranian authorities to the country’s protesters could result in US attacks.
Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera that Trump is “probably torn” when it comes to deciding what action to take against Iran.
She said that while the US president would like “another quick victory, I don’t think he wants to be involved in a protracted conflict in the Middle East that goes against all his instincts”.
She added that she expects Trump to carry out limited strikes that enable him to claim he fulfilled his pledge to “help” the Iranian people, without triggering “a wider escalation”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Britain and the US withdrew some personnel from the airbase in Qatar – Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts US troops and other international forces – after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbours it would hit US bases if Washington strikes.
A number of countries have also issued advisories for protecting their citizens in the region amid fears of a wider regional escalation.
US media outlet NewsNation on Wednesday reported that the Pentagon had begun moving an aircraft carrier strike group from the South China Sea towards the Middle East.
The US has not announced any such movement, and Al Jazeera could not independently confirm the report.
Iran ready to respond
Iran has said it is prepared to retaliate in the event of any US intervention.
The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Pakpour, has said that Iran is ready to respond “decisively” to its foes, Israel and the US, which he accused of being behind the protests sweeping the country.
IRGC is at “the height of readiness to respond decisively to the miscalculation of the enemy”, said Pakpour in a written statement quoted by state television.
Pakpour went on to accuse Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being the “murderers of the youth of Iran”.
Araghchi told Fox News that his government was in full control after a deadly crackdown on protests that had spread across the country since January 8.
“After three days of terrorist operation, now there is a calm. We are in full control,” Araghchi said.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said that people in the city and across the country are anxious because they have psychologically felt the shadow of war since the 12-day conflict with the US and Israel in June.
“Many people feel it, and it is creating anxiety about a possible new round of escalation, which would tangibly impact people’s everyday lives,” he said.
The protests started in December when shopkeepers took to the streets to protest against a fall in the value of the local currency and the soaring cost of living, and quickly escalated into widespread antigovernment demonstrations.
Iranian state television has acknowledged reports of a high death toll during the nationwide protests, quoting the head of the Martyrs Foundation as saying “armed and terrorist groups” are to blame.
More than 100 security personnel have been killed in two weeks of unrest, according to Iranian state media, while opposition activists say the death toll is higher and includes thousands of protesters.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has said that it has confirmed the deaths of more than 2,400 protesters, and more than 150 security personnel and government supporters.
Al Jazeera has not been able to independently verify the figures.
Iran is currently in the midst of a near-total telecommunications blackout, with monitor NetBlocks reporting on Wednesday that the shutdown had surpassed 144 hours.
Rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday it reviewed evidence showing “mass unlawful killings committed on an unprecedented scale” in Iran over the past week, including against “mostly peaceful protesters and bystanders”.
“The evidence gathered by Amnesty International points to a coordinated nationwide escalation in the security forces’ unlawful use of lethal force against mostly peaceful protesters and bystanders since the evening of 8 January,” Amnesty said in a press release.
Verified audiovisual evidence depicted severe and fatal injuries, including gunshot wounds to the head and eyes, and security forces chasing and directly firing at fleeing protesters, the rights group said.