WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran had agreed not to execute eight women protesters in a sign of respect for him, while officials in Tehran denied the executions had been planned and accused the U.S. president of spreading falsehoods.
“Very good news,” Trump said in a social media post a day after granting a unilateral ceasefire in the war started by the U.S. and Israel on February 28.
Trump said four of the eight women would be released immediately and four would be sentenced to one month in prison.
“I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request, as President of the United States, and terminated the planned execution,” Trump said.
Iran called the whole issue a fabrication and said Trump was trying to save face.
The U.S. president has been frustrated by Iran’s refusal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for one-fifth or the world’s oil and gas, despite the ceasefire he declared on April 8 and extended on Tuesday.
“Trump’s empty-handedness in the battlefield has pushed him towards fabricating achievements from false news,” the Iranian judiciary’s news agency, Mizan, said on Wednesday.
Neither the White House nor the Iranian Foreign Ministry immediately responded to requests for comment on Wednesday.
After an initial social media post by Trump about the women on Tuesday, Mizan said Trump had “fallen for” false claims circulated by anti-Iran groups.
On Wednesday, it again said Tehran had made no concessions.
“Last night, Donald Trump, citing a completely false news story, called on Iran to overturn the death sentences of eight women,” Mizan said.
“However, despite the false claim being revealed last night, Trump claimed in another post a few minutes ago that the sentences of eight protesting women who were supposed to be executed in Iran tonight have been overturned and thanked Iran!”
The agency said a number of the women had already been released and some are facing charges that could result in prison but not death.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Howard Goller)
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