President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to take “very strong action” against the Iranian regime if anti-government protesters are executed.
This comes after relatives of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, who was detained last week, said he is due to be executed today, Wednesday, 14.
“I haven’t heard about the hanging. If they hang ’em, you’re gonna see some things that – I don’t know what you’re – where you come from and what your thought process is, but you’ll perhaps be very happy,” Trump told “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil during an interview in Detroit.
When Dokoupil asked the president to clarify what he meant, Trump responded: “If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action.”
More than 2,000 Iranians have been k!lled amid the regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Other sources paint a far more grim picture, with death toll estimates ranging between 12,000 to 20,000 people, CBS News reported.
Trump said the “endgame” of taking strong action against Tehran would be “to win,” and implied that it would involve a military operation when asked how he would define victory in Iran.
“Well, let’s define it in Venezuela. Let’s define it with al Baghdadi. He was wiped out. Let’s define it with Soleimani, and let’s define it in Iran, where [the US military] wiped out the Iranian nuclear threat in a period of about 15 minutes once the B-2s got there,” the president explained.
“We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen,” Trump continued. “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.”