WASHINGTON, DC – President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States would react strongly if authorities in Iran started hanging people in their crackdown on a popular uprising against the government.
“We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” he told CBS News in an interview, when asked about hangings potentially beginning on Wednesday.
“When they start killing thousands of people — and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” Trump said in a video clip released online.
European nations also signaled their anger over the crackdown, with France, Germany and the United Kingdom among the countries that summoned their Iranian ambassadors, as did the European Union.
“The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying,” said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, vowing further sanctions against those responsible.
The interview took place as Trump was in the northern US state of Michigan to visit a manufacturing plant and deliver a speech on the economy.
In his speech, Trump reiterated a message he had posted earlier on social media, that “help is on its way” for the Iranian protesters.
He also said it was unclear what the death toll in Iran actually was.
“I hear numbers — look, one death is too much — but I hear much lower numbers, and then I hear much higher numbers,” he said.
Later, speaking to reporters on his return to Washington, Trump said he would soon be receiving a briefing on Iran.
“The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain. I’ll know within 20 minutes — and we’ll act accordingly,” he said.
Trump had previously vowed the United States would get involved if protesters were killed, a line crossed days ago. AFP
At least 734 people are confirmed to have been killed, though the actual death toll is likely in the thousands, Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said Tuesday.
Fears have also grown that the Islamic republic could use the death penalty to crack down on the protests, after Tehran prosecutors said authorities would press capital charges of “moharebeh,” or “waging war against God,” against some suspects arrested over recent demonstrations.
“Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent,” Amnesty International said.
IHR highlighted the case of Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested last week in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and who, according to a family source, has already been sentenced to death and is due to be executed as early as Wednesday.
Iran’s move to cut internet access during ongoing mass protests, along with Uganda’s Tuesday ahead of controversial elections, are the latest examples of how some governments use digital blackouts to muzzle dissent.
There were a record 296 deliberate internet shutdowns in 54 countries in 2024, according to the latest data from digital rights group Access Now — the highest number of shutdowns since they began monitoring in 2016.
Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said it had confirmed 734 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, but warned the death toll was likely far higher.
“The real number of those killed is likely in the thousands,” IHR’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.
Iranian state media has said dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, with their funerals turning into large pro-government rallies.
Authorities in Tehran have announced a mass funeral ceremony in the capital on Wednesday for the “martyrs” of recent days.
Amir, an Iraqi computer scientist, returned to Baghdad on Monday and described dramatic scenes in Tehran.
“On Thursday night, my friends and I saw protesters in Tehran’s Sarsabz neighborhood amid a heavy military presence. The police were firing rubber bullets,” he told AFP in Iraq.
Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s ousted shah, called on the military to stop suppressing protests.
“You are the national military of Iran, not the military of the Islamic Republic,” he said in a statement.
The government on Monday sought to regain control of the streets with mass nationwide rallies that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed as proof that the protest movement was defeated, calling them a “warning” to the United States.
In power since 1989 and now aged 86, Khamenei has faced significant challenges, most recently the 12-day war in June against Israel, which forced him to go into hiding.
Analysts have cautioned that it is premature to predict the immediate demise of the theocratic system, pointing to the repressive levers the leadership controls, including the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is charged with safeguarding the Islamic revolution.
