Shafaq News– Washington

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked US President Donald Trump to delay any plans for a US military attack on Iran, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing a US official.

The report said Israeli assessments indicate that the United States has not abandoned its intention to strike Iran but has instead changed the timing.

According to Israel’s Channel 14, the United States informed Israel on Wednesday that it would attack Iran overnight, before halting the plan.

This followed a statement made by Trump in an interview with Fox News, in which he said that an Iranian protester would not be sentenced to death following his warnings, adding that the same applied to others.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Thursday, citing a Saudi official, that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman persuaded Trump to give Iran’s government more time and refrain from launching military strikes.

Commenting on the report, the US president wrote, in a post on his Truth Social platform, “This is good news… hopefully it continues!”

Earlier today, Iran denied that a death sentence had been issued against Erfan Soltani, who was arrested on Saturday in connection with the protests, stressing that it was not preparing to carry out his execution.

The judiciary-affiliated Mizan News Agency said Soltani is being held at Karaj prison near Tehran on charges of “organizing gatherings against national security and spreading propaganda against the system,” adding that, if convicted, Soltani would be sentenced to prison, noting that the law does not provide for the death penalty for such charges.

Trump said earlier that he’s been told that plans for executions in Iran have stopped, adding, “We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping, it’s stopped, it’s stopping, and there’s no plan for executions, or an execution, or executions, so I’ve been told that on good authority.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, warned Trump against “repeating the same mistakes” made during the June 2025 war, accusing Israel of seeking to draw Washington into a new conflict with Iran.

Iran’s nationwide protests erupted on December 28 after the rial collapsed to a record low of about 1.45 million to the US dollar, driving sharp increases in food prices and inflation before spreading nationwide. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said at least 2,571 people have been killed so far, including 2,403 protesters, 147 government-affiliated individuals, 12 minors, and nine civilians not involved in demonstrations. Iranian officials have acknowledged an overall death toll of around 2,000.