Burnt vehicles lie on the road following unrest sparked by dire economic conditions, in a place given as Tehran, Iran, January 10, 2026, in this screengrab from Iran's state media broadcast footage. IRIB via WANA(West Asia News Agency)
DUBAI/WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions, adopting a wait‑and‑see posture after earlier threatening intervention.
After Iran's foreign minister said Tehran had "no plan" to hang people, Iranian state media on Thursday reported that a 26-year-old man arrested during protests in the city of Karaj would not be given the death sentence.
Rights organisation Hengaw, which reported earlier this week that Erfan Soltani was due to be executed on Wednesday, said a previously communicated order for his execution had been postponed, citing his relatives.
In a social media post on Thursday, Trump responded to a news report that an Iranian protester was no longer being sentenced to death, writing: "This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!"
Iranian state media said that while Soltani was being charged with colluding against "internal security and propaganda activities against the regime", the death penalty does not apply to such charges.
Trump's comments on Wednesday led oil prices to retreat from multi-month highs and gold eased from a record peak on Thursday. Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene on behalf of protesters in Iran, where the clerical establishment has cracked down hard on nationwide unrest since December 28.
PROTESTS APPEAR TO ABATE, NEW US SANCTIONS
People inside Iran, reached by Reuters on Wednesday and Thursday, said protests appeared to have abated since Monday. Information flows have been hampered by an internet blackout for a week.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday the government was trying to address some of the economic problems that first spurred the protests, adding that it intended to tackle issues of corruption and foreign exchange rates and that this would improve purchasing power for poorer people.
Despite this, Washington tightened pressure on Tehran on Thursday by imposing sanctions on five Iranian officials it accused of being behind the crackdown, and said it was tracking Iranian leaders' funds being wired to banks around the world.
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and law enforcement forces commanders.
"U.S. Treasury knows, that like rats on a sinking ship, you are frantically wiring funds stolen from Iranian families to banks and financial institutions around the world. Rest assured, we will track them and you," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a video. "But there's still time, if you choose to join us. As President Trump has said, stop the violence and stand with the people of Iran."
Sanctions were also imposed on Fardis Prison, where the U.S. State Department said women have "endured cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment".
The Group of Seven countries said it was prepared to impose additional restrictive measures on Iran if it continued to crack down.
Tensions had risen on Wednesday, with Iran saying it had warned neighbours it would hit American bases in the region in the event of U.S. strikes, and a U.S. official saying the United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the region.
Trump said he had been told by "very important sources on the other side" that killings in the crackdown were subsiding.
He did not rule out potential U.S. military action but said his administration had received a "very good statement" from Iran.
TRUMP UNCERTAIN ABOUT SUPPORT IN IRAN FOR SHAH'S SON
Paul Salem, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think-tank, said that while Trump has appeared to back away from action against Iran, he remained unpredictable.
Iran's government is at "a strategic dead end, but I don't think they are at immediate risk of state collapse or regime change," he added.
In comments to Reuters, Trump expressed uncertainty over whether Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran and a prominent figure in Iran's fractured opposition, would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over.
Trump told Reuters it was possible Iran's government could fall but that in truth "any regime can fail."
Turkey, one of several states in the region where the U.S. has forces, expressed opposition to the use of violence against Iran and said the priority was to avoid destabilisation.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi by phone on Thursday and discussed ways to support security and stability in the region, Saudi state media reported.
The security warning level at the U.S. Al Udeid air base in Qatar has been lowered after a heightened alert triggered on Wednesday, three sources briefed on the situation told Reuters on Thursday. U.S. aircraft that were moved out of Al Udeid are gradually returning to the base, one of the sources added.
MOST VIOLENT UNREST SINCE 1979 REVOLUTION
The U.S.-based HRANA rights group says it has verified the deaths of 2,435 protesters and 153 government-affiliated individuals in the unrest that began with protests over soaring prices before turning into one of the biggest challenges to the clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The death toll has dwarfed that of previous bouts of unrest crushed by the Iranian authorities, and Iran and its Western foes have both described the unrest as the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iranian authorities said the demonstrations turned from legitimate protest at economic grievances into unrest fomented by its foreign enemies, accusing people it described as terrorists of attacking the security forces and public property.
The intelligence ministry urged people on Thursday to report any suspicious activities, state media reported.
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Tala Ramadan, Nayera Abdallah and Jana Choukeir in Dubai; Reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Istanbul; Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry and Timothy Heritage; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Andrew Heavens)
