Trump thanks Iran for ‘cancelling’ hanging of hundreds of political prisoners

US President Donald Trump took the unusual step on Friday of thanking the Iranian government for not following through on executions of what he said was meant to be hundreds of political prisoners.“Iran cancelled 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 cancelled”.The Republican president also suggested on his social media site that more than 800 people had been set to be executed in Iran, but he said they now would not be.“Thank you!” Trump posted.Those sentiments come after Trump spent days suggesting that the US might strike Iran militarily if its government triggered mass killings during widespread protests that swept that country but have now quietened.