Iran Suspends Plans to Execute Detained Protesters, Trump Says

By Feliz Solomon, David S. Cloud and Benoit Faucon

President Trump said he was told Iran suspended plans to move forward with executions of antigovernment pro--testers, hours after Tehran signaled it was preparing swift trials and executions in defiance of a warning from Trump and the threat of U.S. military action.

“That’s just gotten to me, some information, that the killing has stopped, that the executions have stopped,” Trump said Wednesday afternoon.

The family of Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old man who was arrested on Jan. 8, had been told his death sentence would be carried out on Wednesday, said Awyer Shekhi of Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a Norway-based nonprofit. A relative of Soltani’s later said her family had heard the sentence wouldn’t be carried out that day after all.

“Until the family speaks to Erfan and sees him in person, we cannot be sure whether it was carried out today or not,” the relative said in an interview.

Hengaw said the execution order had been postponed.

Trump’s statement about Iran suspending planned executions came as he told the country’s protesters in recent days that “help is on the way.” Iran has warned it would retaliate if the U.S. strikes, and the Pentagon has begun evacuations from the region.

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, said earlier on Wednesday that the courts should act quickly against protesters, who have swept across the country with demonstrations in recent days.

“If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly,” he said in a video released by Iranian state television.

The group Human Rights Activists in Iran said on Wednesday the death toll had surpassed 2,400, as the regime has moved to crush the demonstrations. It said more than 140 members of the government security forces had been killed

and that more than 18,000 people had been detained.

Human-rights groups said detainees are at high risk of torture and execution. Information about the protests and potential prosecutions has been scarce after the regime cut off the internet last week, causing a near-total communications blackout.

Soltani, an unmarried 26year-old, runs a clothing shop in the city of Karaj, northwest of Tehran, where he was detained, Shekhi said. His family said he had no previous involvement in political activism, Shekhi said, adding that his relatives haven’t received details about the charges brought against him or whether he was convicted in court.

Tehran’s chief prosecutor, Ali Salehi, said on Friday protesters could face the death penalty, the semiofficial news agency Tasnim reported. Acts of vandalism against public property would be considered “moharebeh,” a Farsi word meaning “waging war against God.” The punishment for such offenses includes execution.

After large antigovernment protests in 2022, Iranian authorities carried out public hangings of multiple people who they said were convicted of committing violent acts. In 2025, Amnesty International said Iran had executed 11 individuals in connection with the 2022 protests after what the rights group called “unfair sham trials.”

Mohseni-Ejei, the judiciary chief, made his comments about expediting prosecutions during a visit to a Tehran prison holding protest detainees. “What the people are expecting,” he said, “is that we do something about the people who beheaded, burned, and set fires.”

Trump warned on Tuesday that the U.S. would take action against Tehran if it put antigovernment prisoners to death by hanging, a common form of capital punishment in Iran. “If they hang them, you’re going to see some things,” he said in an interview with CBS News. “We will take very strong action if they do such a thing.” He also called for protesters to defy regime efforts to quell their demonstrations, urging them to take over state institutions.

Trump has been leaning toward ordering military strikes in recent days, The Wall Street Journal previously reported, but has received briefings on a range of options.

Asked on Wednesday if military action is off the table, he said, “We’re going to watch it and see what the process is, but we were given a very good statement by people that are aware of what’s going on.”

Trump for days has received briefings from top members of his team, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who have presented him with a suite of options. Many of the options don’t involve force of arms, including cyberattacks, sanctions or supporting antiregime messaging online, officials said.

Trump for now has ruled out negotiations with Iran. He said Tuesday on Truth Social: “I have canceled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the U.S. military said it was evacuating some personnel from Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, where the U.S. military has a major presence, as a precaution, given the escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran, a U.S. official and person familiar with the matter said.

Later in the day, Iran closed its airspace to flights, except those given permission by the authorities in Tehran.

The president ordered a strike on key Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war in June. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Al Udeid, but they did little damage, with most intercepted by air defenses.

Iran warned on Sunday it could strike U.S. bases in the Middle East, shipping lanes or Israel in the event of a U.S. attack.

If Trump does decide to authorize an attack, his options to do so are limited by the shift of military personnel and equipment to the Caribbean.

But officials and experts said the U.S. still has the ability to defend its forces in the area by other means.