By Diyar Guldogan
WASHINGTON (AA) - President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the US is prepared to take “very strong action” if reports that Iran plans to execute protesters prove accurate.
"I haven't heard about the hanging. If they hang them, you're going to see some things ... We will take very strong action if they do such a thing," Trump said in an interview with CBS News.
Asked about his "end game" for Iran, Trump replied: "The end game is to win. I like winning."
Trump's comments came after he was asked about remarks he posted earlier on his social media company Truth Social, saying, “Help is on the way.”
"Well, there's a lot of help on the way, and in different forms, including economic help ... We put Iran out of business with their nuclear capacity," he said, referring to US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June last year.
Highlighting the lack of clear casualty figures from the ongoing protests in Iran, he said: "Nobody's been able to give us accurate numbers about how many people they've killed."
"You know, if they want to have protests, that's one thing, when they start killing thousands of people, and now you're telling me about hanging, we'll see how that works out for them. It's not going to work out good," he said.
Citing US- and Norway-based Iranian non-governmental organizations, US broadcaster Fox News reported Monday that the family of arrested protester Erfan Soltani was informed that the 26-year-old was "sentenced to death" and that the sentence was due to be carried out Wednesday.