US President Donald Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests were subsiding and that he believed there was currently no plan for large-scale executions, even as tensions between Tehran and Washington remained high.
Asked who told him that the killings stopped, Trump described them as “very important sources on the other side.”
The president did not rule out potential US military action, saying “we are going to watch what the process is” before noting the US administration received a “very good statement” from Iran.
Trump’s comments early today appeared to signal a cautious easing of fears that the crisis in Iran could escalate into a broader regional confrontation. In a televised interview on Monday, Trump had warned that the US would take “very strong action” if Iran’s authorities went ahead with executing protesters they had detained during widespread unrest.
The US is withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said yesterday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbours it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.
With Iran’s leadership trying to put down the worst domestic unrest the Islamic republic has ever faced, Tehran is seeking to deter Trump’s repeated threats to intervene on behalf of anti-government protesters.
A US official said the US was withdrawing some personnel from key bases in the region as a precaution given heightened regional tensions.
Two European officials said US military intervention appeared likely, with one saying it could come in the next 24 hours. An Israeli official also said it appeared Trump had taken a decision to intervene, though the scope and timing had yet to be made clear.
Qatar said drawdowns from its Al Udeid air base, the biggest US base in the region, were “being undertaken in response to the current regional tensions”.
Three diplomats said some personnel had been told to leave the base, though there were no immediate signs of large numbers of troops being bussed out to a soccer stadium and shopping mall as took place hours before an Iranian missile strike last year.
Britain was also withdrawing some personnel from an air base in Qatar ahead of possible U.S. strikes, The I Paper newspaper reported.
The British embassy in Tehran has been temporarily closed, the government said yesterday.
“We have temporarily closed the British Embassy in Tehran, this will now operate remotely. Foreign Office travel advice has now been updated to reflect this consular change,” a government spokesperson said.
Britain’s ambassador and all consular staff were evacuated based on a security assessment and a decision to prioritise staff safety, a British official said.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the protests against clerical rule.
Iran and its Western foes have both described the unrest, which began two weeks ago as demonstrations against dire economic conditions and rapidly escalated in recent days, as the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed Iran’s system of clerical rule.
Iranian security forces have killed at least 3,428 protesters in a crackdown on demonstrations, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO said yesterday, adding that more than 10,000 people had also been arrested.
The IHR said the jump in its verified toll was due to new information it received from within the Iranian health and education ministries, with at least 3,379 of the killings coming during the height of the protest movement from January 8 to 12.
Iran “had never faced this volume of destruction”, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi said yesterday, blaming foreign enemies.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot described “the most violent repression in Iran’s contemporary history”.
A senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to prevent Washington from attacking Iran.
“Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Türkiye, that US bases in those countries will be attacked” if the US targets Iran, the official said.
Direct contacts between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had been suspended, the official added.
The US has forces across the region.
The flow of information from inside Iran has been hampered by an Internet blackout.
The government’s prestige was severely damaged last year by a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign in June – joined by the US – that followed setbacks for Iran’s regional allies in Lebanon and Syria. European countries triggered the restoration of UN sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme, worsening an economic crisis.
The authorities have sought to project images showing they retain public support. Iranian state TV broadcast footage of large funeral processions for people killed in the unrest in Tehran, Isfahan and Bushehr, and other cities. People waved flags and pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and held aloft signs with anti-riot slogans.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, an elected figure whose power is subordinate to that of Khamenei, told a cabinet meeting that as long as the government had popular support, “all the enemies’ efforts against the country will come to nothing”.
State media reported that the head of Iran’s top security body, Ali Larijani, had spoken to the foreign minister of Qatar, while Araqchi had spoken to his Emirati and Turkish counterparts. Araqchi told UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed that “calm has prevailed”.
Visiting a Tehran prison where arrested protesters are being held, Iran’s chief justice said speed in judging and penalising those “who beheaded or burned people” was critical to ensuring such events do not happen again.
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