Iran Denies Trump’s Claims of Halted Mass Executions as Death Toll from Protests Rises

Iran’s top prosecutor on Friday firmly rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that Tehran halted the executions of 800 detained protesters, calling the claims “completely false.” The denial comes as human rights groups report the death toll from the government’s brutal crackdown on nationwide demonstrations has reached at least 5,032 people.

“This claim is completely false; no such number exists, nor has the judiciary made any such decision,” said Mohammad Movahedi, Iran’s prosecutor, in comments carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency. His remarks suggested Iran’s Foreign Ministry, led by Abbas Araghchi, may have provided that figure to Trump, though Movahedi emphasized: “We have a separation of powers, the responsibilities of each institution are clearly defined, and we do not, under any circumstances, take instructions from foreign powers.”

The situation remains dire for many detainees, with judiciary officials labeling some as “mohareb” — or “enemies of God” — a charge that carries the death penalty. This designation was previously used in 1988 mass executions that reportedly killed at least 5,000 people.

Volker Türk, the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights, expressed concern during a special session in Geneva on Friday over “contradictory statements from the Iranian authorities about whether those detained in connection with the protests may be executed.” He noted that Iran “remains among the top executioner states in the world,” with at least 1,500 people reportedly executed last year — a 50% increase over 2024.

Rising Death Toll Amid Information Blackout

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that more than 4,700 of the dead were demonstrators, with over 27,600 people detained in a widening arrest campaign. These figures, which have proven accurate in previous unrest, suggest the current crackdown exceeds the severity of any other protest response in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s government offered its first death toll Wednesday, claiming 3,117 people were killed, with 2,427 being civilians and security forces, and the remainder labeled as “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

Independent verification of casualties remains nearly impossible as authorities maintain what activists describe as “the most comprehensive internet blackout in Iran’s history,” now in its third week. International calls into the country have also been blocked, further isolating the population.

U.S. Military Buildup and Rising Tensions

Tensions between the United States and Iran continue to escalate as an American aircraft carrier group moves closer to the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln and its associated warships are traveling from the South China Sea and are currently in the Indian Ocean, according to a U.S. Navy official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump characterized the naval deployment as an “armada” and told journalists late Thursday that the ships were moving toward Iran “just in case” he wants to take action. “We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.

The U.S. president also referenced earlier negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program that preceded Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in June, which saw U.S. warplanes bomb Iranian nuclear sites. Trump threatened Iran with military action that would make those earlier strikes “look like peanuts.”

“They should have made a deal before we hit them,” Trump said.

The United Kingdom Defense Ministry separately announced that its joint Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet squadron with Qatar, 12 Squadron, has “deployed to the Persian Gulf for defensive purposes noting regional tensions.”

Iranian Response and International Reaction

Tehran’s Friday prayer leader Mohammad Javad Haji Ali Akbari mocked Trump as a “yellow-faced, yellow-haired and disgraced man” who is “like a dog that only barks.” He warned: “If any harm were to occur, all your interests and bases in the region would become clear and precise targets of Iranian forces.”

Iran’s foreign ministry also condemned a European Parliament resolution adopted Thursday that criticized the “repression and mass murders being perpetrated by the Iranian regime against protesters.” The resolution called for the release of detained protesters and urged the European Council to designate Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which played a key role in suppressing the demonstrations, as a terrorist organization.

In response, Iran’s foreign ministry expressed “its strong revulsion at the insulting assertions” and warned that “any illegal or interventionist decision or position concerning the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the country’s security defenders will be met with reciprocal action by Iran.”

The Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank, noted in an analysis Friday: “While President Trump now appears to have backtracked, likely under pressure from regional leaders and cognizant that airstrikes alone would be insufficient to implode the regime, military assets continue to be moved into the region, indicating kinetic action may still happen.”