Trump says he’s been assured Tehran has stopped killing protesters as Iran closes its airspace – live

US president says ‘important sources’ also told him executions not going ahead as Iran extends order closing its airspace to commercial flights

• Full report: US and UK military to withdraw some personnel from Middle East amid Iranian threats

• Iran crisis explained: what we know so far

• Analysis: why western diplomats are wary of predicting regime’s end days

• Podcast: Massacres and executions: what are we hearing from inside Iran?

Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the crisis in Iran.

Donald Trump says he has been assured that the killing of Iranian protesters has been halted, adding when asked about whether the threatened US military action was now off the table that he will “watch it and see”.

Trump said Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi “seems very nice” but expressed uncertainty about whether Pahlavi would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over. “He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country,” Trump said in an Oval Office interview with Reuters. “And we really aren’t up to that point yet. “I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.”

Iran has reopened its airspace after a near-five-hour closure that forced airlines to cancel, reroute or delay some flights. Tracking service Flightradar24 showed five flights from Iranian carriers Mahan Air, Yazd Airways and AVA Airlines were among the first to resume over the country.

The security council is scheduled to meet on Thursday afternoon for “a briefing on the situation in Iran”, according to a spokesperson for the Somali presidency. The scheduling note said the briefing was requested by the US.

Some US and UK personnel have been evacuated as a precaution from sites in the Middle East. The British embassy in Tehran has also been temporarily closed.

Spain, Italy and Poland advised their citizens to leave Iran. It follows a call by the US urging its citizens to leave Iran, suggesting land routes to Turkey or Armenia.

Iranian foreign minister Araghchi insisted the situation was “under control,” and urged the US to engage in diplomacy. “Now there’s calm. We have everything under control, and let’s hope that wisdom prevails and we don’t end up in a situation of high tension that would be catastrophic for everyone,” Araghchi said.

The death toll in Iran from the regime’s crackdown stands at 2,571 people, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists news agency (HRANA). More than 18,100 have been arrested, it said.

Foreign ministers from the G7 group said they were “prepared to impose additional restrictive measures” on Iran over its handling of the protests, and the “deliberate use of violence, the killing of protesters, arbitrary detention and intimidation tactics”.

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Source: www.theguardian.com

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