Thousands dead in Iranian protests, Trump says executions on hold

U.S. President Donald Trump says the Islamic regime in Iran is backing away from its threat to execute protestors.

The American president told reporters at the White House this afternoon that the killing in Iran has stopped.

Iranians around the world were watching Iran today, waiting to see if the Iranian leaders would carry out their plan for executions despite Trump’s threat to take action against Iran.

Crowds were back in the streets of Tehran today. Not anti-government protestors, but people at funerals for security forces killed in recent weeks.

A U.S. human rights group says 147 people affiliated with the government were killed, but says more than 2,400 government opponents died in the protests. Other estimates go as high as 20,000 protest deaths.

And Iranians were waiting for word on 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, who was to be executed today with the Chief Justice of the country’s Supreme Court calling for swift trials and punishment for protestors.

But Trump says the regime is not carrying out executions in the face of the threat that the U.S. could step in.

“It’s stopped and it’s stopping. And there’s no plan for executions or an execution or executions. So I’ve been told that on good authority. We’ll find out about it. I’m sure if it happens we’ll all be very upset, including you. We’ll be very upset,” said Trump.

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“The hospitals over there are overcapacity. The morgues are overcapacity. The Islamic regime is rushing into hospitals and looking for people,” said Iranian-Canadian advocate Nikan Nadim, otherwise known as Faze Nikan.

With internet access to Iran down much of the time, Nikan’s family has been trying to find out what’s happening to its members still there.

“My mom is crying, she’s smiling. She’s crying and she’s smiling. She’s seeing how many people are supporting Iran, which obviously makes her happy. She sees the U.S. government is behind her and is behind them,” said Nikan.

He says they’re counting on Trump’s promise of support.

“I think the Iranian people’s demand is very clear, they’ve made it known that they want the regime gone,” said Kaveh Shahrooz of the Macdonald-Laurier think tank.

Shahrooz says Trump could determine whether the Iranian regime survives or is toppled – and says it’s time for them to go.

“The regime is a medieval mindset put in the form of a government. It is one that has very little respect for human life. It’s one that has no managerial capacity and has not been able to do anything good for the country. It’s one that ultimately is antisemitic in outlook, it’s anti-American in outlook and it’s utterly brutal,” said Shahrooz.

Trump told Iranian protestors this week that help is on the way. Today he was asked if the U.S. could still send in its military, and said he’ll watch and see what happens.

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