 "Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Reuters file")
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that Iran does not have any plan to execute any anti-government protestors, as US President Donald Trump hits out at Tehran for killing demonstrators.
Speaking with Fox News after Trump said that Tehran had assured him that “there are going to be no more killings”, Araghchi said “there is no plan for hanging at all.”
“Hanging is out of the question,” he said.
What has Trump said?
Trump said Wednesday he had been told the killings of protesters in Iran had been halted, but added that he would “watch it and see” about threatened military action.
Trump had repeatedly talked in recent days about coming to the aid of the Iranian people over the crackdown on protests that rights groups say has left at least 3,428 people dead.
But in a surprise announcement at the White House, Trump said he had now received assurances from “very important sources on the other side” that Tehran had now stopped, and that executions would not go ahead.
“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.
World reacts
While the UN Security Council will huddle on Thursday to discuss the situation in Iran, G7 nations have said they were “deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries” and warned of further sanctions if the crackdown continued.
Monitor NetBlocks said Iran’s internet blackout had lasted 144 hours. Despite the shutdown, new videos, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue south of Tehran, wrapped in black bags as distraught relatives searched for loved ones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday said that the Islamic Republic “does not deserve to exist” as he showed support to the Iranian protestors agitating against the government.
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View All“We support the position on Iran. A regime that has lasted so many years and killed so many people does not deserve to exist. Changes are needed. Changes are also needed in Europe—the bloodshed that Russia started and is the only one still prolonging must come to an end,” he said.