"White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said "only President Trump knows what he's going to do" as she was asked how close the US came to strikes on Iran, during her briefing in DC on Thursday. "The truth is only President Trump knows what he's going to do, and a very, very small team of advisers are read into his thinking on that," she said. "And as I just told you, he continues to closely monitor the situation on the ground in Iran. And as we saw yesterday, he had heard that the killings and executions would stop, and we have seen 800 people their lives have been spared as a result of that. The president continues to closely monitor but also keep all of his options on the table." On Wednesday, Donald Trump appeared to step back from the brink - after media reports suggested strikes might be imminent - and said "we've been told that the killing in Iran is stopping" and "there's no plan for executions". Earlier, Trump reiterated to Iranian protesters that 'help is on the way' - and told them to 'keep protesting'. He did not expand on what he meant by 'help' although the White House has said airstrikes are among the 'many' options. Economic protests have been ongoing in Iran since December, and intensified in recent days and weeks, with Iran accusing Trump of inflaming tensions - after he warned the authorities he could intervene in the event of a potential crackdown. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed some rioters were destroying property to 'please' the US president. "