US President Donald Trump issued a fresh warning to Iran’s leadership over its violent crackdown on protests that have swept the country over the past two weeks.
Trump said Washington would review reports of killings and alleged executions linked to the unrest.
“We had a wonderful speech in front of great people in Detroit. I’m going back to the White House now, and we’re going to look at the whole situation that’s going on in Iran. We’ll get some accurate numbers on what’s happening with regard to the killing,” the president told reporters.
#WATCH | On being asked if he wants to see democracy in Iran, US President Donald Trump says, "Ideally, we would like to see it. We don't want to see people killed, and we want to see a little bit of freedom for these people. These people have been living in hell for a long… pic.twitter.com/YEuMzGuoFj
— ANI (@ANI) January 13, 2026
Later, speaking to CBS News, Trump reiterated his warning, saying the US would respond forcefully if Iran executes protesters. “We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” he said.
Trump’s remarks came amid reports that Iranian authorities are preparing to execute Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old man, in what would be the first capital punishment linked to the ongoing anti-regime protests.
Soltani was arrested last week during demonstrations in Karaj and is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday, according to human rights groups.
“When they start killing thousands of people and now you’re telling me about hanging protesters, we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out well,” Trump said.
“The message is that they’ve got to show humanity. They have a big problem, and I hope they’re not going to be killing people. It would seem to me that they have been badly misbehaving, but that is not yet confirmed,” he added.
