US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that what he called “very important sources” told him that “the killing in Iran has stopped”. He also said Iranian authorities were not planning to carry out mass executions.
In response to Trump’s comments, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News there were no plans to execute protesters. Iranian state media, citing the Tehran judiciary, said there was no pending death sentence for 26-year-old Erfan Soltani after reports emerged about his scheduled execution on Wednesday over his alleged ties to the nationwide protests.
Trump did not, however, rule out military action.
The statements come following days of increasingly hostile rhetoric between Washington and Tehran, with the former signalling a possible military attack on the latter. Iranian officials threatened to strike US military bases in the region in retaliation.
Araghchi instead maintained that diplomacy with the United States remains the best option as regional partners look to de-escalate tensions.
The airspace over Iran reopened for traffic on Thursday morning after a temporary closure lasting approximately five hours overnight.
On Wednesday, several personnel at the US military base of Al Udeid in Qatar were evacuated as Washington’s embassy to Tehran urged its citizens in the country to evacuate.
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The UK has also advised its citizens to leave Iran, issuing additional travel alerts to more than a dozen countries including Turkey, the UAE and Egypt, urging travellers to “stay alert”.
Israel, which Iran accuses of instigating unrest in the country, has also been placed under travel warnings by the US and UK governments.
Energy Minister Eli Cohen has warned Iran not to attack Tel Aviv, following statements from the Iranian side saying Israeli territory would also be considered legitimate targets in the event on an attack.
According to Israeli radio, mayors in several Israeli cities have decided to open shelters independently of instructions from the Home Front Command as a precaution.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses in Iran suggest protests in the country have abated following days of a brutal crackdown that has killed at least 2,615 people and led to the arrest of more than 18,000 others, according to the US-based rights group HRANA. The New Arab has not independently been able to verify these figures due to a widescale internet blackout that has entered its seventh day.
Iran’s Fars News Agency said a separate domestic internet is scheduled to be launched “in the next week or two”.
An emergency meeting on Iran at the UN Security Council is expected to take place later on Thursday.
The New Arab
