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Watch: Trump says Arab, Israeli officials did not convince him against striking Iran
He said that Iran 'cancelled the hangings', that 'had a big impact' on his decision
- PUBLISHED: Sat 17 Jan 2026, 11:19 AM
US President Donald Trump said he "convinced himself" against striking Iran, denying that conversations with Arab or Israeli officials impacted his decision.
While speaking to press on the White House lawn on Friday, Trump said, "Nobody convinced me, I convinced myself." What did have a "big impact" however, was that Iran "didn't hang anyone".
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He said that Iran had scheduled "800 hangings" that had been "cancelled". The Middle Eastern nation intended to execute some protestors who participated in the anti-government demonstrations that have swept the country in the last few weeks.
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Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over the past two weeks to help protesters, where rights groups say Iranian forces have killed thousands of people.
Reports emerged on Thursday that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman led "a long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort to convince President Trump to give Iran a chance to show good intention".
Economic concerns ignited the demonstrations which began with a shutdown in the Tehran bazaar on December 28. It slowly catapulted into a mass movement that demanded the removal of the clerical system that ran Iran since the 1979 revolution.
Since then, thousands of people — rights groups estimate between 5,000 and 20,000 — have been killed by security forces.
