WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Wednesday that Iran will no longer execute eight women after he pleaded Tuesday for their freedom — calling it “very good news” in a social media post.
“I have just been informed that the eight women protestors who were going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed. Four will be released immediately, and four will be sentenced to one month in prison,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request, as President of the United States, and terminated the planned execution.”
The announcement came hours after Trump extended a two-week cease-fire with Iran as US negotiators await Tehran’s reply to the latest American offer to end the nearly two-month conflict.
Iran’s judiciary denied that the eight women were ever set for execution, claiming that “Trump was misled once again by fake news” and that “some of them have been released, while others face charges that, if convictions are upheld, would at most result in imprisonment.”
Iran’s claim is contested. One of the women, Bita Hemmati, was sentenced to death for allegedly being part of a group that threw objects onto Iranian forces during protests in January, human rights groups said.
Her case was reported last week by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center.
Hemmati and four men were convicted of “participation in protest gatherings on January 8 and 9, 2026,” including “chanting protest slogans,” “throwing objects including bottles, concrete blocks, and incendiary materials from rooftops,” and “destruction of public property,” the activist news agency said.
However, two of the eight — Golnaz Naraghi, 37, and Venus Hosseininejad, 28, — have been out on bail since late March, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights organization.
Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad, who lives in the US, publicized the cases of the eight women, tweeting their names and photos and specifying which four were believed to be sentenced to death.
Trump launched the current war on Feb. 28 after warning in early January that the US would attack if protests were violently suppressed inside Iran, which they then were to the tune of thousands of deaths.
Negotiations have focused primarily on other matters, with Trump saying his top goal is an agreement to end Iran’s nuclear enrichment and retrieve an estimated 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
