Iranian shopkeeper Erfan Soltani has had his execution postponed after President Donald Trump threatened to deliver a "strong" response if the Islamic Republic started to hang protesters.
The 26-year-old was set to become the first protester hanged by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime after he was handed the death penalty for his involvement in a demonstration on Thursday last week.
Responding to Mr Soltani's impending execution, Mr Trump cautioned that the US would take "very strong action", saying: "If they hang them, you are going to see something."
But now the Islamic Republic has appeared to have taken the President's warning seriously, with the 26-year-old's family confirming that his execution, due to take place on Wednesday, would not go ahead.
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But the Mullahs warned that Mr Soltani's execution was only delayed - and he could be put to death by the regime at any moment.
The shopkeeper is currently being held in solitary confinement at Ghezel Hesar prison in the city of Karaj.
Shortly after the delay had been confirmed, the President said he had been informed "on good authority" that Tehran had halted plans for executions for now.
However, the Islamic Republic has indicated that speedy trials and death sentences will be carried out on dissidents in the coming weeks as it desperately wrestles to stay in control amid widespread civil unrest.
Erfan Soltani's family confirmed that his execution would not go ahead as scheduled
| XDespite the postponement of Mr Soltani's execution, opposition voices inside the Middle Eastern country have claimed state killings will still be carried out behind closed doors.
A spokesman for the Kurdistan National Army separatist group in Iran told The Times: "They will not stop executions for a single minute.
"This is one example of a trial and execution: [the Chief Justice of Iran, Gholam-Hossein] Mohseni-Ejei subsequently demanded that everyone who has been arrested be executed and killed.
"The difference with these types of executions is that they are carried out silently in basements. Unlike before, they do not bring them out in public."
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Mr Trump vowed to take 'very strong action' against Iran if its government started to hang protestors | GETTYHowever, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi denied that the regime was plotting to hang protesters when asked about the widespread public disorder on Wednesday.
The high-ranking Islamic Republic official told Fox News: "There is no plan for hanging. Hanging is out of the question."
But hangings are a regular occurrence in Iranian prisons, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Society.
The group told the BBC in December that it had verified at least 1,500 executions in the Middle Eastern country last year.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi denied that the regime was plotting to hang protesters
|GETTY
At least 1,500 executions are believed to have been carried out in Iran last year
| GETTYMr Trump has refused to rule out military action against the Islamic Republic over its deadly crackdown on demonstrators.
The President told reporters: "We're going to watch and see what the process is, but we were given a very good, very good statement by people that are aware of what's going on."
However, sources told CNN on Wednesday that Mr Trump feels increasingly obliged to act against the regime after issuing a wave of threats over the past week.
The President is said to have attended a two-hour briefing on the critical situation in Iran, with one official familiar with the meeting saying: "Part of it is that he has now set a red line, and he feels he needs to do something."
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