Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi lashed out at an Israel Hayom report that Tehran has deceived the US over the execution of protesters.
In a post on his official X account, Araghchi wrote that "no executions have taken place, no court process has been concluded, and more than 2,000 prisoners have been pardoned." He also attacked Israel Hayom publisher Dr. Miriam Adelson.
Whenever Miriam Adelson's mouthpiece pushes a dramatic claim about Iran, it's worth asking who it serves. Even the U.S. President has acknowledged where her primary loyalties lie.
In its latest piece, Adelson's outlet declared—just an hour before Netanyahu's White House… pic.twitter.com/pJK3JFqRz8
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) February 11, 2026
However, Iran's Deputy Judiciary Chief Ali Mozaffari said that protesters arrested during the recent unrest were not included in the pardons.
Araghchi claimed the report was published an hour before Netanyahu's meeting at the White House in order to create the impression that Iran had misled Trump. "Before buying the narrative being peddled, consider who benefits from it—and who may actually be doing the deceiving," he wrote.
In the Israel Hayom report, which cited two diplomatic sources, Araghchi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian conveyed messages to US officials in January promising to meet initial American demands, including a halt to executions, in order to avoid a potential strike.
On Jan. 14, President Trump presented the development as an achievement, saying: "We were told that the killing in Iran has stopped and there is no plan for executions."
But intelligence information obtained by several Western intelligence agencies, including the Mossad as well as British and German services, indicated that the executions continued while efforts were made to conceal them. Instead of hanging protesters in city squares, detainees were reportedly shot or strangled to death in custody, and their families were told they had died during demonstrations.
According to assessments cited in the report, the number of executions carried out in this manner reaches into the thousands, in addition to the tens of thousands killed during the suppression of the protests.
Western officials have also continued to receive reports of ongoing crackdowns on protests erupting in provincial cities, as well as mass arrests.
