Intense diplomatic efforts to dissuade Donald Trump from striking Iran, including communication between the Islamic republic and the US administration, have de-escalated tensions in the Gulf, according to five people close to governments in the region.
Countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Oman and Egypt have been urging restraint from the White House, warning of potential damage to Iran’s neighbours in the event of a US strike on the regime, including higher global oil prices.
“Things have de-escalated for now,” one Arab official said. “The US is giving time for talks with Iran and to see where they go from here.”
Communication between Washington and Tehran allowed Iranian officials to assure Trump that there would be no executions of protesters and the death toll was not as high as was being reported outside the country.
The official said hopes were growing that the communication between the two countries, some of which may have been assisted by a third party such as Russia or Oman, could develop into further talks in coming days.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that: “800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday were halted” but added the US was “closely monitoring this situation, and all options remain on the table”.
Leavitt also confirmed Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Tensions soared in recent days after Trump suggested on Tuesday that US action against the regime was imminent, posting on social media that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY” at a time when Iranian demonstrators were facing a harsh crackdown.
Amnesty International said Iranian authorities had committed “mass unlawful killings on an unprecedented scale” to crush the mostly peaceful protests that broke out in late December, with the death toll rising to 2,000 by “official admission”.
However, Trump said on Wednesday he had received assurances that Iran had stopped killing protesters and there were no plans for executions.
“We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping, and it’s stopped. It’s stopping, and there’s no plan for executions or an execution,” Trump said. He did not specify the source of his information.
