Trump demands Iran compensate victims as Strait of Hormuz talks stall

Washington, United States. US President Donald Trump demanded that Iran pay compensation for people he said it had killed or seriously wounded in wars, attacks and protests, as prospects for an imminent agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz weakened.

US compensation demands

Trump said he was responding to Iran’s earlier demand that Washington meet conditions including compensation for damage caused during more than five months of US and Israeli strikes on Iranian territory.

“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He said the demand, which had not been raised in previous talks, would be included in all future negotiations with Iran. It would include payments to the families of hundreds of thousands of protesters Trump said had been killed by Iranian authorities.

Trump also said Iran should compensate the families of those killed in the October 12, 2000 attack on the USS Cole, a US Navy vessel in Yemen that killed 17 American sailors. The attack was attributed to al Qaeda rather than Iran.

Iran’s conditions for reopening strait

Iran said earlier it was close to a final agreement with Oman on new shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran said the United States would first have to meet conditions including compensation, an end to sanctions and an end to military threats before the waterway could reopen.

The strait, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed before the conflict, has been effectively blocked since US and Israeli attacks on Iran began on February 28.

Oil prices rose sharply after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei outlined Tehran’s conditions. Brent crude traded more than 4 per cent higher, while Dutch and British front-month gas prices rose by more than 10 per cent.

Conflict and ceasefire

Trump has said the US attacks were intended to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and reduce its ability to threaten countries in the region. He is also under pressure to end the conflict ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire in June, but the United States imposed a new blockade on Iranian shipping in the Gulf in July. Iran said the measure violated the truce, which it said had already broken down.