{"id":425668,"date":"2026-01-23T20:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/425668\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T20:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:30:11","slug":"trump-says-us-sending-big-force-to-iran-as-prosecutor-rejects-execution-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/425668\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says US sending ‘big force’ to Iran as prosecutor rejects execution claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

(TNND) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Thursday that the U.S. has a \u201cbig force\u201d heading toward Iran and that officials are \u201cwatching them very closely,\u201d as he continues to threaten military action over the government\u2019s deadly crackdown <\/a>on protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we\u2019ll see what happens. It’s a big force,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. <\/p>\n

His comments appeared to refer to the Pentagon’s order to move additional military assets to the Middle East, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying warships from the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

Trump appeared to backdown<\/a> last week when he claimed a “credible source” told him killings tied to Iran’s protesters have stopped and thanked Iran’s leadership for canceling 800 scheduled hangings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll find out,\u201d the president said in the Oval Office, adding that time would tell whether Iran\u2019s actions match its words. <\/p>\n

Iran’s top prosecutor quickly shot back at Trump over the hangings, calling it “completely false.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThis claim is completely false; no such number exists, nor has the judiciary made any such decision,\u201d Mohammad Movahedi strongly denied, according to the judiciary\u2019s Mizan News Agency. <\/p>\n

His remarks suggested Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry, led by Abbas Araghchi, may have offered that figure to Trump. Araghchi has had a direct line to U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and conducted multiple rounds of negotiations over Iran\u2019s nuclear program with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a separation of powers, the responsibilities of each institution are clearly defined, and we do not, under any circumstances, take instructions from foreign powers,\u201d Movahedi said.<\/p>\n

The latest death toll was given by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which reported that more than 4,700 of the dead were demonstrators. It added that more than 27,600 people had been detained in a widening arrest campaign.<\/p>\n

However, independent verification has been difficult amid a sweeping internet blackout imposed by Iranian authorities.<\/p>\n

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Trump over the weekend of escalating already high tensions<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn this revolt the U.S. president intervened directly,\u201d Khamenei said Saturday. In a post on X, the Iranian leader wrote that the United States president was \u201cguilty due to the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted upon the Iranian nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demonstrations in Iran began on Dec. 28 amid a worsening economic crisis and widespread dissatisfaction with the government.<\/p>\n

As protests gained momentum, Trump said on Jan. 2 that the U.S. was “locked and loaded” <\/a> if Iran shoots or “violently kills peaceful protesters.” He then declared that all meetings with Iranian officials were canceled<\/a> and urged demonstrators to continue to protest.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(TNND) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Thursday that the U.S. has a \u201cbig force\u201d heading toward Iran and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-425668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}