US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States would respond forcefully if Iranian authorities carry out hanging of protestors amid ongoing unrest in the nation.
“We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” Trump told CBS News in an interview, when asked about reports that executions could begin on Wednesday.
When asked about his end goal, he said, “The end game is to win. I like winning”, CBS reported.
The interview was conducted while Trump was in Michigan, where he toured a manufacturing plant and delivered a speech on the economy. During the speech, he repeated a message he had earlier posted on social media, saying “help is on its way” for Iranian protesters.
Trump said the scale of the bloodshed remained unclear.
“I hear numbers — look, one death is too much — but I hear much lower numbers, and then I hear much higher numbers,” he said.
Speaking to reporters later aboard Air Force One, Trump said he was awaiting a briefing on the situation.
“The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain. I’ll know within 20 minutes — and we’ll act accordingly,” he said.
“We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen. And you know, if they want to have protests, that’s one thing, when they start killing thousands of people, and now you’re telling me about hanging — we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good,” he added.
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What is happening in Iran?
Trump has previously warned that Washington would intervene if protesters were killed, a threshold that has already been crossed.
At least 734 people have been confirmed dead, although the true toll is likely in the thousands, Norway-based group Iran Human Rights said on Tuesday.
Concerns have intensified that Tehran may use executions to suppress the unrest after prosecutors said some detainees could face capital charges of “moharebeh,” or “waging war against God.”
“Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent,” Amnesty International said.
Iran Human Rights also cited the case of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, arrested last week in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj, who according to a family source has already been sentenced to death and could be executed as early as Wednesday.