Trump Demands Iran Pay Compensation For People Killed And Wounded In Strait Of Hormuz Talks

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would demand that Iran pay compensation for "all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded" as part of any peace negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz.

“"all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded"”

Reuters

In a Truth Social post, Trump said, "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," and he also referenced the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.

Al Jazeera

Reuters reported that Trump’s social media post came after Iran said it was nearing a deal with Oman defining new shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the U.S. must meet conditions including compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats before the waterway is reopened.

The Reuters account also said the FBI has attributed the USS Cole bombing, which killed 17 sailors and wounded more than three dozen others, to al Qaeda, not Iran.

Trump’s demand was also framed as covering deaths among civilian demonstrators and U.S. forces in the region, with CBC reporting that his proposal was a rhetorical escalation likely to complicate efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr laid out conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and Time reported that he said, "Until America corrects its behavior, the Strait of Hormuz will not open."

Time listed six demands attributed to Zolghadr, including that the U.S. lift the naval blockade and withdraw its military forces (naval and air) from around Iran and pay damages of the two wars of aggression and imposition on Iran.

CBC

In response, Trump rejected Iran’s stipulations and told reporters he had instructed his representatives to demand compensation "for all of the people" that Iran has "killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts."

Time also quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei saying, "In short, you reap what you sow," in televised remarks carried by state media.

The Hill reported that Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the U.S. "corrects its behavior," and it said Zolghadr’s statement demanded the U.S. permanently end the war, lift the naval blockade, withdraw military forces, and "completely compensate" Iran for damages from the five-monthlong war.

The dispute over compensation and reopening the Strait of Hormuz is tied to broader negotiations and the war’s economic and political pressure, with CBC reporting that oil prices settled five per cent higher on Monday after the demands dimmed prospects for a deal to reopen the strait.

“Oil prices settled five per cent higher on Monday”

CBC

CBC said the strait, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed prior to the conflict, has been effectively blocked since the war began, pushing up oil prices and inflation.

In the same CBC report, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Keating said on CNN, "This is reality. It's sinking in," as Trump faced pressure to end a war that is deeply unpopular at home ahead of midterm elections in November.

Reuters also reported that Trump referenced compensation for the families of the USS Cole bombing victims and for protesters, while the Reuters account said rights groups say the Iranian government has continued to crack down on opponents during the war.

Scripps News described the latest dispute as coming after Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr laid out conditions Tehran says must be met for the conflict to end and the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, including that the naval blockade be lifted, U.S. naval and air forces withdraw from around Iran, and war damages must be compensated.