Trump vows to seek compensation from Iran

President Donald Trump has ordered US officials to demand compensation from Iran in any future negotiations, turning the tables on Tehran days after Iranian officials sought reparations of their own for damage sustained during five months of conflict with Washington.

Writing on Truth Social on Monday, Trump noted that Iranian representatives were seeking compensation for damage inflicted during the recent five-month military conflict, despite the issue never having surfaced in previous negotiations or meetings. He countered by insisting that Iran should likewise compensate the families of hundreds of thousands of protesters he claims Tehran has killed over the past fifty years, alongside the roughly 52,000 he says have died in the past five months alone. The intervention raises the rhetorical stakes with Tehran just as hopes for an imminent deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz appear to be fading.

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Iran, for its part, has made clear the strategic waterway will not be fully reopened until its own conditions are met. Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has called on Washington to halt what Tehran calls its unlawful and destructive actions and pay compensation in turn, with Iranian officials reiterating that the US must compensate it for damage caused by more than five months of American and Israeli strikes before the strait can be fully reopened. Iran has additionally tied full reopening to the lifting of the US naval blockade and economic sanctions and the release of Iranian funds frozen abroad, even as talks continue with Oman over a temporary shipping corridor through the strait -- a sign, officials suggest, that any lasting resolution still hinges on the broader, unresolved negotiation between Washington and Tehran.