In a surprising shift, Trump extended gratitude towards Iran’s leaders for sparing the lives of hundreds of detained protesters, signaling a potential move away from military intervention.

The threat of executions and the violent suppression of peaceful demonstrators have been pivotal factors for Trump when considering action against Iran.

Iran’s forceful crackdown, which has resulted in several thousand casualties, appears to have quelled the protests that erupted on December 28. Initially sparked by economic grievances, these demonstrations quickly evolved into a direct challenge to the nation’s theocratic regime.

In Tehran, the absence of protests over recent days suggests a return to routine, with daily activities resuming under an ongoing internet blackout. Meanwhile, authorities have not noted any disturbances in other regions.

“Iran cancelled the execution of over 800 individuals,” Trump announced to reporters in Washington, acknowledging his appreciation for the decision. “I greatly respect that they cancelled,” he remarked.

Trump did not elaborate on any discussions with Iranian officials regarding the status of the planned executions.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Friday put the death toll at 3,090.

The number, which exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution, continues to rise.

The agency has been accurate throughout the years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.

The AP has been unable to independently confirm the toll. Iran’s government has not provided casualty figures.

Hard-line cleric’s fiery sermon

In contrast, the sermon by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami carried by Iranian state radio sparked chants from those gathered for prayers, including: “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!”

Khatami, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council long known for his hard-line views, described the protesters as the “butlers” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump’s soldiers.”

He said Netanyahu and Trump should await “hard revenge from the system.”

“Americans and Zionists should not expect peace,” the cleric said.

His fiery speech came as allies of Iran and the United States alike sought to defuse tensions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Friday to both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Israel’s Netanyahu, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia had previously kept largely quiet about the protests.

Moscow has watched several key allies suffer blows as its resources and focus are consumed by its four-year-old war against Ukraine, including the downfall of Syria’s former President Bashar Assad in 2024, last year’s US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the US seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro this month.

Exiled Iranian royal calls for fight to continue

One diplomat told The Associated Press that top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar had raised concerns with Trump that a US military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region.

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged the US to make good on its pledge to intervene.

Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown by Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, said he still believes the president’s promise of assistance.

“I believe the president is a man of his word,” Pahlavi told reporters in Washington. He added that “regardless of whether action is taken or not, we as Iranians have no choice to carry on the fight.“

“I will return to Iran,” he vowed. Hours later, he urged protesters to take to the streets again from Saturday to Monday.

Despite support by diehard monarchists in the diaspora, Pahlavi has struggled to gain wider appeal within Iran. But that has not stopped him from presenting himself as the transitional leader of Iran if the government were to fall.

Iran authorities list protest damage

Khatami, the hard-line cleric, also provided the first overall statistics on damage from the protests, claiming 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy places had sustained damage.

Another 80 homes of Friday prayer leaders — an important position within Iran’s theocracy — were also damaged, likely underlining the anger demonstrators felt toward symbols of the government.

He said 400 hospitals, 106 ambulances, 71 fire department vehicles, and another 50 emergency vehicles also sustained damage.

Even as protests appeared to have been smothered inside Iran, thousands of exiled Iranians and their supporters have taken to the streets in cities across Europe to shout out their rage at the government of the Islamic Republic.

Amid the continuing internet shutdown, some Iranians crossed borders to communicate with the outside world.

At a border crossing in Turkey’s eastern province of Van, a trickle of Iranians crossing on Friday said they were travelling to get around the communications blackout.

“I will go back to Iran after they open the internet,” said a traveler who gave only his first name, Mehdi, out of security concerns.

Also crossing the border were some Turkish citizens escaping the unrest in Iran.

Mehmet Önder, 47, was in Tehran for his textiles business when the protests erupted. He said he laid low in his hotel until it was shut for security reasons, then stayed with one of his customers until he was able to return to Turkey.

Although he did not venture into the streets, Önder said he heard heavy gunfire.

“I understand guns, because I served in the military in the southeast of Turkey,” he said. “The guns they were firing were not simple weapons. They were machine guns.”

In a sign of the conflict’s potential to spill over borders, a Kurdish separatist group in Iraq said it has launched attacks on Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days in retaliation for Tehran’s crackdown on protests.

A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, said its members have “played a role in the protests through both financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when needed.”

The group said the attacks were launched by members of its military wing based inside Iran.