The US on Thursday imposed sanctions on five Iranian officials it accused of being behind the crackdown on protests and said it was tracking Iranian leaders’ funds being wired to international banks, as President Donald Trump keeps the pressure on Tehran.
The US Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps and law enforcement forces commanders, accusing them of being architects of the crackdown.
The US also imposed sanctions on Fardis Prison, where the State Department said women had “endured cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a video on Thursday said Washington’s message to Iran’s leaders was clear: “US Treasury knows, that like rats on a sinking ship, you are frantically wiring funds stolen from Iranian families to banks and financial institutions around the world. Rest assured, we will track them and you.
“But there’s still time, if you choose to join us. As President Trump has said, stop the violence and stand with the people of Iran.”
‘No death sentence for arrested protester’
Earlier today, Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions, adopting a wait-and-see posture after previously threatening intervention.
Meanwhile, after Iran’s foreign minister said Iran had “no plan” to hang people, Iranian state media on Thursday reported that a 26-year-old man arrested during protests in the city of Karaj would not be given the death sentence.
Rights organisation Hengaw, which reported earlier this week that Erfan Soltani was due to be executed on Wednesday, said a previously communicated order for his execution had been postponed, citing his relatives.
In a social media post on Thursday, Trump responded to a news report that an Iranian protester was no longer being sentenced to death, writing: “This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!”
Iranian state media said that while Soltani was being charged with colluding against “internal security and propaganda activities against the regime”, the death penalty does not apply to such charges.
Araghchi also said the Iranian government was “in full control” and reported an atmosphere of “calm” after what he called three days of “terrorist operation”.
The British government said its embassy in Tehran had been “temporarily closed”, while the US embassy in Saudi Arabia urged staff to exercise caution and avoid military installations.
Iran’s judiciary chief vowed to fast-track trials for those arrested, stoking fears authorities will use capital punishment as a tool of repression.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene on behalf of protesters in Iran, where the Iranian leadership has cracked down hard on nationwide unrest since December 28.
Reuters quoted a Gulf official as saying that four Arab states conducted intense diplomacy with the United States and Iran this week to prevent a threatened US attack on Iran.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Egypt were involved in the diplomacy over 48 hours before Trump signalled on Thursday that he had ultimately decided against an attack for now, saying the killings in Iran were easing.
The four countries had conveyed to Washington that any attack would have consequences for the wider region in terms of both security and economics that would ultimately impact the United States itself, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
They told Iran that any retaliatory attack it launched on US facilities in the Gulf would have consequences for Tehran’s relations with other countries in the region, the official added.
Saudi Arabia’s international media office, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, Oman’s Information Ministry and Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Foreign Ministry of the United Arab Emirates, which was not involved in the diplomacy described by the official, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it had engaged in any diplomacy on the issue.
Protests appear to abate
People inside the country, reached by Reuters on Wednesday and Thursday, said the protests appear to have abated since Monday.
Information flows have been hampered by an internet blackout for a week.
Tensions had escalated on Wednesday, with Iran saying it had warned neighbours it would hit American bases in the region in the event of US strikes, and a US official saying the United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the region.
Trump, speaking at the White House, said he has been told that killings in the crackdown were subsiding.
Asked who told him that the killings had stopped, Trump described them as “very important sources on the other side”.
The president did not rule out potential US military action, saying “we are going to watch what the process is” before noting that his administration had received a “very good statement” from Iran.
In separate comments to Reuters, Trump expressed uncertainty over whether Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran and a prominent figure in Iran’s fractured opposition, would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over.
Trump told Reuters it is possible the government in Tehran could fall due to the protests but that in truth “any regime can fail”.
Turkiye, one of several states in the region where the US has forces, expressed opposition to the use of violence against Iran, with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan saying at a press conference in Istanbul that the priority is to avoid destabilisation.
Saudi FM Prince Faisal bin Farhan held a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday and discussed ways to support security and stability in the region, the Saudi foreign ministry said.
Qatar said on Wednesday that drawdowns from its Al Udeid air base, the biggest US base in the Middle East, were “being undertaken in response to the current regional tensions”.
Iran launched missiles at Al Udeid last year in response to US airstrikes on its nuclear installations during the 12-day war between Tehran and Israel.
Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Trump that the strike showed “Iran’s will and capability to respond to any attack”.
Iran reopens airspace
Iran reopened its airspace after a nearly five-hour closure amid concerns about possible military action between the US and Iran that forced airlines to cancel, reroute or delay some flights.
Iran closed its airspace to all flights except international ones to and from Iran with official permission at 10:15pmGMT (3:15amPKT) on Wednesday, according to a notice on the US Federal Aviation Administration website.
The notice was removed shortly before 3amGMT (8am PKT), according to tracking service Flightradar24, which showed five flights from Iranian carriers Mahan Air, Yazd Airways and AVA Airlines were among the first to resume over the country.
Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic.
Indian airlines among those affected
India’s largest airline IndiGo said some of its international flights would be impacted by Iran’s sudden airspace closure.
Air India said its flights were using alternative routes that could result in delays or cancellations.
A flight by Russia’s Aeroflot bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to Flightradar24 data.
Earlier on Wednesday, Germany issued a new directive cautioning the country’s airlines from entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa rejigged its flight operations across the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.
The United States already prohibits all US commercial flights from overflying Iran and there are no direct flights between the countries.
Empty airspace over Iran, during a temporary closure of the country’s airspace amid concerns about possible military action between the United States and Iran, in this screengrab obtained from the internet on January 14, 2026. — FlightRadar/Reuters
Airline operators like flydubai and Turkish Airlines have canceled multiple flights to Iran in the past week.
“Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk information.
“The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defence, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.”
Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice, while it would only operate day flights to Tel Aviv and Amman from Wednesday until Monday next week so that crew would not have to stay overnight.
Some flights could also be cancelled as a result of these actions, it added in a statement.
Italian carrier ITA Airways, in which Lufthansa Group is now a major shareholder, said that it would similarly suspend night flights to Tel Aviv until Tuesday next week.
‘Unprecedented level of brutality’
Separately, G7 nations said on Wednesday they were “deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries” and warned of further sanctions if the crackdown continued.
Monitor NetBlocks said Iran’s internet blackout had lasted 156 hours.
Amnesty International accused authorities of committing mass unlawful killings “on an unprecedented scale,” citing verified videos and eyewitness accounts.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War said authorities were using “an unprecedented level of brutality to suppress protests,” noting reports of protest activity had sharply declined.
A senior Iranian official told journalists there had been no new “riots” since Monday, distinguishing them from earlier cost-of-living protests. “Every society can expect protests, but we will not tolerate violence,” he said.
Prosecutors have said some detainees will face capital charges of “waging war against God”. State media reported hundreds of arrests and the detention of a foreign national for espionage, without giving details.
India tells citizens to leave Iran
India’s foreign ministry has urged its citizens to leave Iran, where rights groups say a crackdown on mass protests has killed and arrested thousands of people.
India’s foreign ministry estimates there are usually around 10,000 citizens in Iran.
“Indian nationals who are currently in Iran (students, pilgrims, business persons and tourists) are advised to leave Iran by available means of transport,” the Indian Embassy in Tehran said, in a post on social media late Wednesday.
AI-created Iran protest videos gain traction
AI-generated videos purportedly depicting protests in Iran have flooded the web, researchers said Wednesday, as social media users push hyper-realistic deepfakes to fill an information void amid the country’s internet restrictions.
US disinformation watchdog NewsGuard said it identified seven AI-generated videos depicting the Iranian protests — created by both pro- and anti-government actors — that have collectively amassed some 3.5 million views across online platforms.
Among them was a video shared on the Elon Musk-owned platform X showing women protesters smashing a vehicle belonging to the Basij, the Iranian paramilitary force deployed to suppress the protests.
One X post featuring the AI clip, shared by what NewsGuard described as anti-regime users, garnered nearly 720,000 views.
Anti-regime X and TikTok users in the United States also posted AI videos depicting Iranian protesters symbolically renaming local streets after President Donald Trump.
One such clip shows a protester changing a street sign to “Trump St” while other demonstrators cheer, with an overlaid caption reading: “Iranian protestors are renaming the streets after Trump.”
Pro-regime social media users also shared AI videos purportedly showing large-scale pro-government counterprotests throughout the Islamic republic.
The AI creations highlight the growing prevalence of what experts call “hallucinated” visual content on social media during major news events, often overshadowing authentic images and videos.
In this case, AI creators were filling an information void caused by the internet blackout imposed by the Iranian regime as it sought to suppress demonstrations, experts said.
“There’s a lot of news — but no way to get it because of the internet blackout,” said NewsGuard analyst Ines Chomnalez.
“Foreign social media users are turning to AI video generators to advance their own narratives about the unfolding chaos.”
The fabricated videos were the latest example of AI tools being deployed to distort fast-developing breaking news.
AI fabrications, often amplified by partisan actors, have fueled alternate realities around recent news events, including the US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and a deadly shooting by immigration agents in Minneapolis.
AFP fact-checkers also uncovered misrepresented images that created misleading narratives about the Iranian protests, the largest since the Islamic Republic was proclaimed in 1979.
One months-old video purportedly showing demonstrations in Iran was actually filmed in Greece in November 2025, while another claiming to depict a protester tearing down an Iranian flag was filmed in Nepal during last year’s protests that toppled the Himalayan nation’s government.
