President Donald Trump took the unusual step on Friday of commending the Iranian government for not following through on executions of what he said was meant to be hundreds of political prisoners.
Watch Trump’s remarks in the video player above.
“Iran canceled the hanging of over 800 people,” Trump told reporters while leaving the White House to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. He added “and I greatly respect the fact that they canceled.”
The sentiments come after Trump spent days suggesting that the U.S. might strike Iran militarily if its government triggered mass killings during widespread protests that have swept that country.
The death toll from those protests continues to rise, activists say. Still, Trump seemed to hint that the prospects for U.S. military action were fading since Iran had held off on the executions.
Questioned about who convinced him to back down on seeming suggestions that he would strike Iran, Trump said, “Nobody convinced me. I convinced myself.”
“You had yesterday scheduled over 800 hangings. They didn’t hang anyone,” Trump said. “They canceled the hangings. That had a big impact.”
The president also appeared to pull back on his threat to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy troops to quell protests in Minneapolis, saying Friday there wasn’t a reason for him to use it “right now.”
WATCH: Explaining the Insurrection Act’s powers as Trump threatens to use it
“If I needed it, I’d use it,” the president told reporters Friday. “I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I’d use it. It’s very powerful.”
Trump threatened Thursday to invoke the 1807 law as protests in the city continued against federal officers enforcing his massive immigration crackdown. A man was shot and wounded Wednesday by an immigration officer who’d been attacked with a shovel and broom handle.
That shooting further heightened fear and anger since a federal agent fatally shot Renee Good last week.
Asked about his meeting Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who presented Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize, Trump called her a “very fine woman,” and said they’d be talking again.”
WATCH: Machado presents Trump her Nobel Prize as uncertainty surrounds Venezuela’s leadership
Asked why he’d want someone else’s Nobel Peace Prize, Trump said he’d keep it because Machado “offered it” to him.
“I thought it was a very nice gesture,” Trump said.
The president claims to have ended eight wars and said Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela’s opposition leader, told him that no one deserved the prize more than him.
Trump and Machado met at the White House on Thursday. The organization that oversees the Nobel Peace Prize recently said the prize cannot be revoked, transferred or shared with others once it has been announced.
