Trump demands compensation from Iran for decades of attacks and repression

Trump's compensation demand

On Monday, 10 August, US President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the United States will demand compensation from Iran for people killed and injured over decades of attacks and internal repression. The post came in response to Iran's long-standing demand for American reparations as a condition for any agreement on the Strait of Hormuz. Trump wrote that Iran seeks compensation for damages suffered during five months of military conflict, though he said the issue had never been raised in their meetings.

I see that the representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are demanding compensation for the damages suffered during the military conflict of the last five months (which started because THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), although this has never been mentioned in our negotiations or meetings! It is however an interesting idea, because now I too demand compensation from Iran for all the people it has killed or seriously injured through bombs placed on the side of roads and in the numerous conflicts for which it is known, actions initially coordinated by General Soleimani.

Trump specifically cited the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000 in Yemen, saying compensation should go to the families of those killed on the warship. He also demanded compensation for families of protesters killed by Iran over the past fifty years.

Compensation should be paid for the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protesters that Iran has killed these last fifty years, without even speaking of the 52,000 killed these last five months.

Trump instructed his representatives to "firmly include this request in all future negotiations." He also wrote that Iran "should be responsible for the damages and deaths caused to the inhabitants of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Gaza."

Iran's counter-conditions

Iran has its own set of demands as conditions for any agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran insists the United States must compensate Iran for damages caused by more than five months of American and Israeli attacks. Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, secretary of Iran's supreme national security body, enumerated additional conditions: ending threats against Iran, stopping aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq, lifting the naval blockade and sanctions imposed on Iran, and unblocking Iranian assets without conditions. Tehran judges that the United States must "definitively end the war and aggression" against Iran and its allies, including in Yemen and Iraq, and "fully compensate Iran for the damages caused" by the hostilities.

Strait of Hormuz impasse

The exchange of demands makes a quick agreement on the Strait of Hormuz less likely. Iran requires Washington to accept "all" its conditions, while Trump has now added his own compensation requirement to the negotiating framework. The strait has been a focal point of tensions, with Iran conditioning any agreement on American reparations and Washington now demanding reciprocal compensation from Tehran.

On Sunday, 9 August, Trump suggested he needed neither a large military offensive nor a special diplomatic effort, saying it was enough to "observe" Iran's economic difficulties. The remark came a day before his compensation demand, which itself followed Iran's reiteration of its own conditions for reopening the strait.