US President Donald Trump yesterday demanded Iran pay compensation for the people he said it had killed in wars, attacks and protests, raising the rhetorical stakes with Tehran as hopes faded for an imminent deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said he was responding to Iran’s earlier call for Washington to meet conditions, including recompensing Tehran for the damage caused since the US and Israel launched strikes on its territory more than five months ago.
“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 his Truth Social service.
Oil prices, which had risen earlier on the Iranian comments, extended gains after Trump’s post, with Brent crude up 4.25% at 1720 GMT. Trump’s demand had not previously been raised by the US in talks or statements.
The president said it would be part of all future negotiations with the Iranian leadership, and would include calls for payments to the families of hundreds of thousands of protesters whom he said Iran had killed.