President Donald Trump applied a new condition on talks with Iran, saying he would now require compensation from the country for past misdeeds after Tehran over the weekend said US compensation would be required to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The back-and-forth suggested the two sides were no closer to reaching an agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, the fresh requirements appeared to diminish prospects for a quick deal, despite optimism last week an agreement was near.
“But it is an interesting idea,” he went on, “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, for which they are famous.”
The president said payouts should also go to “the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.”
Over the weekend, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a highly influential figure in the Revolutionary Guards, reeled off a maximalist set of demands for reopening the strait. It included US compensation for damage caused during both this year’s war and the June 2025 conflict, which was fought principally by Israel.
