US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in an exclusive interview on Monday with Kambiz Toona, a journalist at Iran International, said in a message to Iranians who have lost their loved ones in the suppression of the uprising in Dey (December–January) that Donald Trump, the President of the United States, and his country’s government and army are “standing with the Iranian people,” and want “a day when Iran can flourish again.”

Bessent said the United States’ actions are aimed at officials of the Islamic Republic, not ordinary people, and that the government can end these pressures whenever it wants. He called the number of executions “shameful” and attributed public executions to the government’s fear of its own people in the wake of the worsening economic situation.