Trump says 'thank you' to Iran for not hanging protesters

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump thanked Iran’s leadership on Friday after saying Tehran had called off the executions of hundreds of protesters arrested in a brutal crackdown.

“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.

Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over the past two weeks to help protesters, where rights groups say Iranian forces have killed thousands of people.

But he is now holding off on intervening after saying on Wednesday that he had been told the killings had stopped.

Trump also dismissed comments by Gulf officials on Thursday that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman led efforts to talk him out of an attack, and said that it was Iran’s actions that swayed him.

“Nobody convinced me — I convinced myself,” Trump told reporters later Friday as he left the White House to head to Florida for the weekend.

“They didn’t hang anyone. They cancelled the hangings. That had a big impact.”