President Donald Trump has demanded compensation for those he says were killed by Iran after Iran made it a condition for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to receive war reparations from Washington.
President Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that his administration would seek “50 years” of Iranian reparations, claiming the move was a direct response to Iran’s claims.
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Tehran has said it will not open the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran, unless the U.S. agrees to pay war reparations and lift sanctions. Iran’s demands were largely in line with the terms of an interim peace agreement signed in June, which subsequently collapsed over a dispute over control of the strait.
Talks between Iran and Oman continue over the waterway that separates the two countries, but President Trump’s new demands risk complicating efforts to reopen the sea route.
“You could say they asked for reparations, or money for the damage we caused them. I said that was a good idea,” he told reporters. “Well, we’re going to sue them for the damage they’ve done over 50 years.”
He claimed that 52,000 people had been killed in Iran over the past four months and said the payments would cover the deaths of U.S. soldiers and Iranian civilian protesters in the region. The Iranian government says around 3,117 people were killed in anti-government protests that swept the country in January, before the start of the US-Israel war.
In February, the US-based Human Rights Defenders News Agency (HRANA) reported about 7,000 deaths, including 6,500 protesters.
“joke”
President Trump also said the Iranian government should compensate the families of the 17 American sailors killed in the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, which was blamed on Al Qaeda rather than Iran.
“Also regarding the Iran negotiations, Iran should be held responsible for the damage and deaths caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Gaza!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Since the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran began on February 28, President Trump has oscillated between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent.
Last week, he threatened to attack Iran “very harshly,” but then backtracked and hinted that a peace deal was near. This weekend he said he was taking a “modest” approach to the conflict, suggesting he was prepared to increase economic pressure instead of further military strikes.
Charles Kapchan, a former special assistant to former President Barack Obama, described Trump’s comments about compensation demands as a “joke” and said both sides have strong incentives to reach an agreement.
“Unfortunately, what we’re seeing here is back and forth, and neither the Iranians nor the Trump administration are serious,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Iran cannot survive if it cannot export oil,” he said, adding that President Trump did not want to go into the U.S. midterm elections with high gasoline prices. There is also pressure on the Pentagon, given reports that the United States is running low on ammunition stockpiles.
Iran and Oman hold talks on Hormuz issue
Iran earlier said it was close to a final deal with Oman that would define a new shipping route between the two countries through the Strait of Hormuz, but the US reiterated that conditions must be met, including a cessation of military threats.
The strait has been effectively closed since the start of the war, pushing up oil prices and inflation.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai told state media on Monday that negotiations with Oman were “progressing smoothly and constructively” and that although some technical issues remained unresolved, an agreement had been reached on the route map.
Bagai said services that usually involve payment were also discussed, such as safe navigation, environmental protection, maritime services and crime prevention.
He added that the United States’ continued “hostile actions” in the Strait of Hormuz have put the strait’s security at risk, and that the Iranian government considers the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports an “act of aggression.”
U.S. Central Command said on Monday that it had diverted 55 commercial ships since reimposing the blockade in July, leaving at least two “unnavigable.” The blockade has “completely halted” Iranian oil exports from the Gulf island of Kharg, according to maritime information firm Windward.
President Trump on Monday described the blockade as an “iron wall” and said “the only force currently in control of the Strait of Hormuz is the U.S. Navy.”
He also claimed that the waterway was open and that the US military had cleared the landmines.
Meanwhile, maritime data companies said traffic on the waterway plummeted over the weekend, with Marine Traffic reporting that crossings were down from 15 on Friday to 11 on Saturday and six on Sunday.
The data showed that 17 ships passed through routes designated by Iran, while 10 others took routes classified as “undetermined.”
