US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that eight women protestors who were earlier facing execution in Iran will no longer be killed as Iran has decided to “respect” the Republican’s request.
In a Truth Social post, the President expressed his “appreciation” of Iran’s move and said four of the women protestors would walk free and the other would serve one month in jail. “Very good news! I have just been informed that the eight women protestors who were going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed,” he wrote. Follow live updates on Iran US war here.
“I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request, as President of the United States, and terminated the planned execution,” he added.
His announcement came a day after he sought these women’s release, requesting Iran to “do them no harm”, adding that it would be a “great start” to the negotiations.
Who are the eight women?
While Donald Trump only shared the pictures of the eight women, he didn’t name them. However, an Iranian dissident in the US identified them in an X post. As stated in a New York Post report, some of them were identified as: Golnaz Naraghi, Venus Hosseininejad and Bita Hemmati.
What Iran said on Trump’s claims?
While Trump claimed that these women were facing execution, Iran squarely denied the assertion, denying that the executions had been planned in the first place, accusing the President of spreading lies.
“Trump’s empty-handedness in the battlefield has pushed him towards fabricating achievements from false news,” the Iranian judiciary’s news agency, Mizan, said on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report.
“Last night, Donald Trump, citing a completely false news story, called on Iran to overturn the death sentences of eight women,” Mizan said.
“However, despite the false claim being revealed last night, Trump claimed in another post a few minutes ago that the sentences of eight protesting women who were supposed to be executed in Iran tonight have been overturned and thanked Iran!”
Trump extends ceasefire, naval blockade continues
Trump’s fresh claim on Iran’s planned execution of the eight women comes hours after he announced the extension of the two-week Iran-US ceasefire, but clarified that the naval blockade of Iranian ports continues.
Hours later, Iran seized two container ships trying to leave the Gulf. However, the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a Fox News interview said that the US didn’t view the seizure as violation of ceasefire since the ships were not US or Israel flagged.
