U.S. President Donald Trump took the unusual step on Friday (January 16, 2026) of thanking the Iranian government for not following through on executions of what he said was meant to be hundreds of political prisoners.
“Iran cancelled the hanging of over 800 people,” Mr. Trump told reporters while leaving the White House to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
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He added “and I greatly respect the fact that they cancelled.”
The Republican president also suggested on his social media site that more than 800 people had been set to be executed in Iran, but he said they now won't be.
