As Iran returned to uneasy calm after a wave of protests, a hard-line cleric called Friday sought death penalty for detained protestors.<\/b>
\nDubai: As Iran returned to uneasy calm after a wave of protests that drew a bloody crackdown, a senior hard-line cleric called Friday for the death penalty for detained demonstrators and directly threatened US President Donald Trump, evidence of the rage gripping authorities in the Islamic Republic.
Trump, though, struck a conciliatory note, thanking Iran\u2019s leaders for not executing hundreds of detained protesters, in a further sign he may be backing away from a military strike. Executions, as well as the killing of peaceful protesters, are two of the red lines laid down by Trump for possible action against Iran.
Harsh repression that has left several thousand people dead appears to have succeeded in stifling demonstrations that began December 28 over Iran\u2019s ailing economy and morphed into protests directly challenging the country\u2019s theocracy.
There have been no signs of protests for days in Tehran, where shopping and street life have returned to outward normality, though a week-old internet blackout continued. Authorities have not reported any unrest elsewhere in the country.
\u201cIran canceled the hanging of over 800 people,\u201d Trump told reporters in Washington, adding that \u201cI greatly respect the fact that they canceled.\u201d
Trump did not clarify who he spoke to in Iran to confirm the state of any 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\u2019s government has not provided casualty figures.
In contrast, the sermon by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami carried by Iranian state radio sparked chants from those gathered for prayers, including: \u201cArmed hypocrites should be put to death!\u201d
Khatami, a member of Iran\u2019s Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council long known for his hard-line views, described the protesters as the \u201cbutlers\u201d of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and \u201cTrump\u2019s soldiers.\u201d He said Netanyahu and Trump should await \u201chard revenge from the system.\u201d
\u201cAmericans and Zionists should not expect peace,\u201d 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 Friday to both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Israel\u2019s 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 4-year-old war against Ukraine, including the downfall of Syria\u2019s former President Bashar Assad in 2024, last year\u2019s US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the US seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro this month.
Days after Trump pledged \u201chelp is on its way\u201d for the protesters, both the demonstrations and the prospect of imminent U.S. retaliation appeared to have receded. 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\u2019s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged the US to make good on its pledge to intervene. Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown by Iran\u2019s 1979 Islamic Revolution, said he still believes the president\u2019s promise of assistance.
\u201cI believe the president is a man of his word,\u201d Pahlavi told reporters in Washington. He added that \u201cregardless of whether action is taken or not, we as Iranians have no choice to carry on the fight.\u201c
\u201cI will return to Iran,\u201d 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 regime were to fall.
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\u2019s theocracy \u2014 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\u2019s eastern province of Van, a trickle of Iranians crossing on Friday said they were traveling to get around the communications blackout.
\u201cI will go back to Iran after they open the internet,\u201d 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 \u00d6nder, 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, \u00d6nder said he heard heavy gunfire.
\u201cI understand guns, because I served in the military in the southeast of Turkey,\u201d he said. \u201cThe guns they were firing were not simple weapons. They were machine-guns.\u201d
In a sign of the conflict\u2019s potential to spill over borders, a Kurdish separatist group in Iraq said it has launched attacks on Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days in retaliation for Tehran\u2019s crackdown on protests.
A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, said its members have \u201cplayed a role in the protests through both financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when needed.\u201d The group said the attacks were launched by members of its military wing based inside Iran.
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