Story by Connor Stringer
Donald Trump has said he will demand compensation from Iran for “all of the people” the regime has killed and gravely wounded.
Tehran is demanding financial compensation from the US for damage incurred during the conflict before leaders will agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a last-minute concession that has dampened the prospect of an imminent deal.
“It is an interesting idea because 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,” the US president wrote on Truth Social.
He added that Tehran should also pay compensation to the families of the thousands of people killed during anti-government protests in January 2026, Iran’s worst domestic unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Speculation had been building for days that an agreement was emerging that would restore safe passage in the strait following direct negotiations between Oman and the Islamic Republic.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said reopening the strait would depend on other conditions the US woud not like – Dmitry Lovetsky/AFP via Getty Images
The proposed deal, put forward by Oman, would create new lanes for traffic and gradually reopen the waterway.
Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, announced on Saturday that while a deal was close, reopening the strait would depend on other conditions which are unlikely to be agreed to by the US.
He said the US would need to permanently end the war, lift its naval blockade, withdraw its forces, end all sanctions, free Iran’s frozen assets and pay war reparations before the strategic waterway could open.
The US has said it is willing to ease sanctions on Tehran and has offered a substantial investment package, based on the condition that Iran fulfils each requirement of the memorandum of understanding, which was signed in June.
The demand has dampened the prospect of a deal before the Midterms in November, which Mr Trump will enter having broken a core campaign promise to end foreign wars.
On Monday, Mr Trump also claimed the US needed compensation from Iran for the deadly bombing of the US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole at a Yemeni port in October 2000.
The FBI has attributed that bombing, which killed 17 sailors and wounded more than three dozen others, to al-Qaeda.
Later on Monday, Mr. Trump also claimed that the US had successfully mines swept the “entire” waterway, although this has not been officially confirmed. “We’ve mines swept the entire strait, as you probably heard. Maybe you didn’t hear. We control the strait 100 per cent,” he claimed during an Executive Order signing in the Oval Office.
