Closing summary
It’s almost 7.30am in Tehran and 11pm in Washington DC and we’re about to close this blog and move our live coverage to another file here. Here’s a recap of the latest top newslines – thanks for being with us.
Donald Trump says he has been assured that the killing of Iranian protesters has been halted, adding when asked about whether the threatened US military action was now off the table that he will “watch it and see”.
The president said at the White House that “very important sources on the other side” had now also assured him that Iranian executions would not go ahead. “They’ve said the killing has stopped and the executions won’t take place,” Trump said. “There were supposed to be a lot of executions today and that the executions won’t take place – and we’re going to find out.”
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News earlier that executions were not taking place, saying “hanging is out of the question”. “I can tell you, I’m confident that there is no plan for hanging,” he said.
The family of Erfan Soltani has been told his execution has been postponed. Soltani is the first Iranian protester sentenced to death since the current unrest began.
The United Nations security council is scheduled to meet on Thursday afternoon for “a briefing on the situation in Iran”, according to a spokesperson for the Somali presidency. The scheduling note said the briefing was requested by the US.
Trump said Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi “seems very nice” but expressed uncertainty about whether Pahlavi would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over. “He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country,” Trump told Reuters in an Oval Office interview. “And we really aren’t up to that point yet. I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.”
Iran has reopened its airspace after a near-five-hour closure that forced airlines to cancel, reroute or delay some flights.
Some US and UK personnel have been evacuated as a precaution from sites in the Middle East. The British embassy in Tehran has also been temporarily closed.
Spain, Italy and Poland advised their citizens to leave Iran. It follows a call by the US urging its citizens to leave Iran, suggesting land routes to Turkey or Armenia.
Iranian foreign minister Araghchi insisted the situation was “under control”, and urged the US to engage in diplomacy. “Now there’s calm. We have everything under control, and let’s hope that wisdom prevails and we don’t end up in a situation of high tension that would be catastrophic for everyone,” Araghchi said.
The death toll in Iran from the regime’s crackdown stands at 2,571 people, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists news agency. More than 18,100 have been arrested, it said.
Foreign ministers from the G7 group said they were “prepared to impose additional restrictive measures” on Iran over its handling of the protests, and the “deliberate use of violence, the killing of protesters, arbitrary detention and intimidation tactics”.
Updated
Asian markets react to latest Trump comments
A little earlier we posted on oil prices dropping 3% after the US president said he would “watch it and see” on possible intervention in Iran.
Well, gold and silver prices have also dipped.
Reaction across Asian markets has been mixed as trading got under way on Thursday; Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Wellington, Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur fell, while Sydney, Seoul, Bangkok and Manila posted minimal gains.
