President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday the "very good news" that a group of Iranian women will no longer be executed after he pushed for their clemency, praising the move as a show of goodwill during ongoing talks.
Trump on social media expressed gratitude to Iran for sparing them from the death penalty.
According to the president, four of the women will be immediately released, while the other four will be sentenced to one month in prison.
"I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request, as President of the United States, and terminated the planned execution,” Trump added.
Trump previously said such a move would be a "good start to negotiations" amid the ongoing U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran. The president recently announced he extended the ceasefire with Iran as the two sides work to end the conflict that began on Feb. 28.
The White House said Trump directly intervened to stop the execution of the women after the case was brought to his attention.
Meanwhile, an Iranian opposition leader criticized European countries on Wednesday for doing too little to halt executions in Iran, after Tehran carried out another execution in what opponents described as a wartime crackdown on dissent.
The same outlet referred to Trump’s announcement that the executions for the eight women were halted as “false news” and that some of the women have already been released, while others still face charges that could result in prison sentences.