New twist: Trump demands compensation from Iran

Trump said in a Truth Social post he would demand Iran compensate families of US soldiers and Iranian civilians killed in recent decades, the Guardian reported Monday, as talks to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz stalled.

The US president said he was responding to Iranian negotiators’ claims for damages from the five-month war, which has killed thousands and devastated Iran’s military and economy. “Now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous, as led initially by Gen Soleimani, including the families of those killed on the USS Cole, and thousands of others killed in combat,” Trump wrote.

Trump also wrote that compensation should go to families of “the hundreds of thousands of innocent protesters” that Iran had killed over the last 50 years, “not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.” The Guardian reported that the demands are likely to be a nonstarter for Iran’s leaders in negotiations aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Before the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in late February, 20% of global oil trade flowed through the strait, according to the report. Trump and senior negotiators have repeatedly said a deal is imminent, but none has materialised.

Trump later broadened the demand to include victims of recent wars across the region. “Also, with respect to the Iran negotiations, Iran should be responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza!” he wrote in a second Truth Social post.

The remarks followed setbacks in Trump’s efforts to end conflicts in Iran, Gaza and Lebanon before the November midterm elections. On Sunday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the Trump-backed Board of Peace’s 15-point Gaza plan, saying Hamas must fully disarm before Israel would consider withdrawing; Trump said Monday in response to a shouted Oval Office question that his relationship with Netanyahu was “very good”.