Iranian prosecutor denies Trump’s claim 800 prisoners were spared execution

DUBAI — Iran’s top prosecutor on Friday called U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he halted the hangings of 800 detained protesters there “completely false.” Meanwhile, the overall death toll from a bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 5,032, activists said. Activists fear many more are dead. They struggle to confirm information as the most comprehensive internet blackout in Iran’s history has crossed the two-week mark. Tensions remain high between the United States and Iran as an American aircraft carrier group moves closer to the Middle East, something Trump likened to an “armada” in comments to journalists. Analysts say a military buildup could give Trump the option to carry out strikes, though so far he’s avoided that despite repeated warnings to Tehran. The mass execution of prisoners had been one of his red lines for military force — the other being the killing of peaceful demonstrators. “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,” the Soufan Center said in an analysis Friday. Prosecutor denies Trump claim Trump has repeatedly said Iran halted the execution of 800 people detained in the protests, without elaborating on the source of the claim. On Friday, Iran’s top prosecutor Mohammad Movahedi strongly denied that in comments carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency. “This claim is completely false; no such number exists, nor has the judiciary made any such decision,” Movahedi said. His remarks suggested Iran’s Foreign Ministry, led by Abbas Araghchi, may have offered that figure to Trump. Araghchi has had a direct line to U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and conducted multiple rounds of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program with him. “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,” Movahedi said. Judiciary officials have called some of those being held “mohareb” — or “enemies of God.” That charge carries the death penalty. It had been used along with others to carry out mass executions in 1988 that reportedly killed at least 5,000 people. At a U.N. Human Rights Council special session on Iran held in Geneva Friday, Volker Türk, the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights, expressed concern over “contradictory statements from the Iranian authorities about whether those detained in connection with the protests may be executed.” He said 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. Meanwhile, Mohammad Javad Haji Ali Akbari, the Friday prayer leader in Tehran, mocked Trump and threatened that “all your interests and bases in the region would become clear and precise targets of Iranian forces” if any harm occurred. Iran’s foreign ministry lashed out at a European Parliament resolution condemning repression and mass murders and urging designation of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, calling such actions “illegal or interventionist” and warning of reciprocal responses. Death toll rises The latest death toll was given by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which reported that more than 4,700 of the dead were demonstrators and that more than 27,600 people had been detained in a widening arrest campaign. The group’s figures rely on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest there in decades. Iran’s government offered its first death toll Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed, describing some as civilians and security forces and others as “terrorists.” The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, in part because of authorities cutting access to the internet and blocking international calls into the country. U.S. warships on the move The American military has moved more military assets toward the Middle East, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated warships traveling with it from the South China Sea. A U.S. Navy official said the Lincoln strike group is in the Indian Ocean. Trump said the U.S. is moving the ships toward Iran “just in case” he wants to take action. The U.K. Defense Ministry said its joint Eurofighter Typhoon squadron with Qatar deployed to the Gulf for defensive purposes amid regional tensions. (Reporters: Jon Gambrell; contributors: Konstantin Toropin, Geir Moulson, Melanie Lidman)