Trump Demands Compensation from Iran for Conflicts He Initiated
US President Donald Trump on Monday demanded that Iran provide compensation to victims of attacks, conflicts and domestic repression that he accused Tehran of perpetrating. The move adds a new condition to negotiations over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The demand came after Iran reiterated that Washington must pay reparations for damage caused by US and Israeli strikes over more than five months before the strategic waterway can be fully reopened.
“This is an interesting idea because now I am also demanding compensation from Iran, for all the people they have killed and seriously wounded through roadside bombs and the various conflicts they have carried out,” Trump wrote on social media.
“I have instructed my representatives to include this explicitly in all future negotiations.”
Trump also called for compensation for the families of those killed in anti-government protests in Iran, as well as those killed in the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000. The attack on the US Navy destroyer—which killed 17 American sailors and wounded more than 30 others—was linked by the FBI to al-Qaeda, not Iran.
It is worth remembering that this escalation began with illegal US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February 2026. So far, those strikes have killed thousands of people in Iran, including children and women.
Meanwhile in Lebanon, the reaction to those strikes was accompanied by Israeli bombardments that killed more than 4,000 people.
US acts of aggression and its foreign policy in the Middle East have so far caused hundreds of thousands of casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Palestine.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, he reiterated his demand for compensation and stated that the US has the capability to escalate the conflict if it chooses to do so.
“We certainly have that capability if we want to use it,” Trump said. “Yes, you will find out soon.” He also claimed that the American military controls the Strait of Hormuz and that the blockade it has imposed “cannot possibly fail”.
“We have swept mines throughout the strait,” Trump added. “But we control the strait completely. Can they cause problems? Yes, they could cause problems, but their financial situation is in shambles.”