People gather during protest on Jan. 8, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Anonymous/Getty Images)
Iran's citizens have taken to the streets in mass protests against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime in recent weeks, with reports claiming thousands of people have been killed as the regime cracks down on the protests. The protests come as the nation faces unrest over economic grievances and political repression.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency announced that 1,847 of the dead were protesters and 135 were members of Iran’s security forces. Other reports say the death toll is more than 3,000 people, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Iran’s judiciary had signaled a rapid crackdown, The Associated Press reported, with top judicial officials talking about fast-tracking trials for those arrested — a move that has raised alarms among rights groups about the risk of harsh sentences, including executions.
"But that's just gotten to me, some information, that the killing has stopped," Trump said. "That the executions have stopped and not going to have an execution, which a lot of people were talking about for the last couple of days. Today was going to be the day of execution."
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks after casting his vote for the presidential runoff election on July 5, 2024 in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
The White House confirmed Monday that Trump was considering bombing Iran if the killings and unrest didn't end, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying diplomacy remains Trump’s first option.
The protests are viewed as the most severe since 2022, when thousands took to the streets nationwide following the killing of a woman by the country's morality police.
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Fox News Digital's Diana Stancy and Gregory Norman-Diamon contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-told-iran-has-halted-killings-amid-mounting-protest-pressure