President Donald Trump on April 21 called for the Iranian regime to release eight women who are allegedly set to be executed as negotiations between Tehran and Washington were scheduled for the same day.
"To the Iranian leaders, who will soon be in negotiations with my representatives: I would greatly appreciate the release of these women. I am sure that they will respect the fact that you did so," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump wrote that if Iran does "no harm" to the women, it "would be a great start to our negotiations."
The president included a screenshot from a prominent X user's post that showed the women who were purported to be executed. Their names were not provided in either Trump's post or the user's post.
His Truth Social comment was also posted by the White House's Rapid Response page on X on Tuesday morning.
The Epoch Times could not immediately verify the names of the women, their alleged crimes, or whether they are currently detained by the Iranian regime.
In January, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he had "stopped 837 hangings" in Iran and said that he told Tehran they could face consequences if they performed more executions.
"And I said, 'If you hang those people, you're going to be hit harder than you've ever been hit,'" he stated.
The Trump administration has said that more rounds of discussions would be held in Pakistan on Tuesday, although Iranian officials have not publicly confirmed the meeting. Some Iranian state-run media have denied that any regime officials are in the country to hold talks with Washington.
A two-week ceasefire is scheduled to end this week, with Trump warning in an interview on Tuesday morning with CNBC's "Squawk Box" that he's prepared to strike Iran again if no deal is made. In the meantime, the U.S. military has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports in a bid to place more economic pressure on the country.
Before the ceasefire was announced earlier in April, Trump warned at the time that he was prepared to launch strikes on Iran's power plants and bridges.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Monday that Tehran rejects negotiations under threat, while he suggested that the blockade would jeopardize the talks.
“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threat, and over the past two weeks, we have prepared to unveil new cards on the battlefield,” he wrote in a post on X.
The U.S. military on Sunday seized an Iranian cargo vessel, the first interception under the blockade of Iranian ports. Iran’s military command called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a violation of the ceasefire.
The White House did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for comment on Tuesday.