US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) claimed that U.S. actions have prevented mass executions in Iran and severely weakened the country’s military, saying during an Oval Office executive order signing that American intervention saved lives and imposed a crippling blockade. Trump asserted that Iran had killed tens of thousands amid internal unrest and described ongoing U.S. operations as decisive, though not a formal war.
Trump told reporters, “Iran killed 42,000 people over the last two months,” and said he personally intervened to stop planned hangings, adding he phoned Iranian authorities and warned, “Don’t do it. The whole world is watching.” He said eight women whose lives he claimed to have saved were slated for execution but were spared after his intervention.
Describing U.S. action as a military operation rather than a declared war, Trump said Iran was “dying to make a deal” and blamed a blockade for crippling the Iranian economy and cutting off oil revenues. He also claimed the operations had devastated Tehran’s armed forces, saying, “Their navy’s gone. Their air force is gone,” and alleging that drone and missile production had been reduced by large percentages.
Trump accused Iranian authorities of broad repression, citing the execution of a wrestler and his associates for political speech and saying, “They killed him because he protested.” He also disputed official casualty figures, repeating his assertion that thousands more had been killed in protests than reported.
Linking foreign policy to domestic economic performance, Trump said stock-market gains influenced his decisions, remarking, “We just hit a new high today on the stock market,” and referencing historic levels for the Dow and S&P as a reason to act on Iran. He reiterated a long-standing stance on Tehran’s nuclear intentions, warning, “They want to have a nuclear weapon. You can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”
Earlier, Iran’s Parliament Speaker MB Ghalibaf warned Tehran would secure the Persian Gulf and seek to end what he called U.S. “presence and interference” by exerting control over the Strait of Hormuz, reflecting heightened tensions between the two countries. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/trump-says-iran-dying-to-make-a-deal-refuses-to-call-it-war-11433800#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-05-01 04:35:00
