Donald Trump has promised ‘very strong action’ against Iran if the regime goes ahead with hanging protesters, amid reports that a 26-year-old will be executed tomorrow.
The president previously warned Tehran that he would take military action if it harmed protesters. Since then, at least 2,000 demonstrators have been killed.
Trump was asked on Tuesday about the substantial death toll and reports that Iran has ordered hangings – and whether this would constitute the crossing of a ‘red line’.
‘I haven’t heard about their hangings,’ Trump told CBS as he toured a Ford factory in Detroit. ‘We will take very strong action if they do such a thing.’
CBS’ Tony Dokoupil asked, ‘And this strong action – are we talking about – what’s the end game?’
Trump replied, ‘If they wanna have protests, that’s one thing. When they start killing thousands of people – now you’re telling me about hanging – we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not gonna work out good.’
It comes as the first protester set to be executed was named today as Erfan Soltani. The 26-year-old will be allowed a final ten minutes with his family before he is hanged on Wednesday morning for allegedly protesting against the regime last Thursday.
Soltani is one of 10,700 individuals who have been arrested since protests began on December 28, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists New Agency.
Trump was interviewed by CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil at a Ford plant in Detroit, MIchigan, on Tuesday
Trump and CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil at a Ford plant in Detroit
Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old Iranian protester, is set to be the first victim to be executed amid the Islamic Republic regime’s brutal crackdown, say human rights groups
Around 2,000 people were killed in protests, an Iranian official admitted to Reuters, blaming ‘terrorists’ for the deaths of civilians and security personnel, while Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights warned of a death toll that is ‘according to some estimates more than 6,000’.
Trump issued a message to Iranians on his Truth Social platform earlier, telling them that ‘help is on its way’ as he called on protesters to ‘take over’ the country. He said he had canceled all talks with the Iranian side.
The president has repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force against antigovernment protesters.
Trump told reporters on Sunday he believed Iran is ‘starting to cross’ that line and has left him and his national security team weighing ‘very strong options’.
Vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and key White House national security council officials began meeting on Friday to develop options for Trump, ranging from a diplomatic approach to military strikes.
Iran, through the country’s parliamentary speaker, has warned that the US military and Israel would be ‘legitimate targets’ if Washington uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 600 protests have taken place across all of Iran’s 31 provinces.
Understanding the scale of the protests has been difficult. Iranian state media has provided little information about the demonstrations. Online videos offer only brief, shaky glimpses of people in the streets or the sound of gunfire.
Debris set alight by protesters in the northern city of Gorgan on January 10
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime has been accused of carrying out a lethal crackdown on anti-government protesters, detaining around 10,700 individuals
The courtyard of the Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre of Tehran Province in Kahrizak on January 12, with dozens of bodies in body bags laid out for family members
Trump’s pressure comes as he deals with a series of other foreign policy emergencies around the globe.
It’s been just over a week since the US military launched a successful raid to arrest Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and remove him from power.
America continues to mass an unusually large number of troops in the Caribbean Sea.
Trump is also focused on trying to get Israel and Hamas onto the second phase of a peace deal in Gaza and broker an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the nearly four-year war in Eastern Europe.
But advocates urging Trump to take strong action against Iran say this moment offers an opportunity to further diminish the theocratic government that´s ruled the country since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
The demonstrations are the biggest Iran has seen in years – protests spurred by the collapse of Iranian currency that have morphed into a larger test of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s repressive rule.
