Trump says Iran should pay compensation, including for past actions

Iran demanding compensation of its own, relating to current conflict

U.S. President Donald Trump seen talking in the Oval Office of the White House. — U.S. President Donald Trump, seen speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, has demanded Iran pay compensation for the people he said it had killed in wars, attacks and protests. (Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press)

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday responded to Iran’s conditions for a peace deal with his own demands that Iran pay compensation for people killed in wars, attacks and protests, in a rhetorical escalation likely ‌to complicate efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump’s proposal, which has not been raised before, was a response to Tehran’s demands for compensation and an end to sanctions. This are largely in line with the terms of a preliminary peace deal signed in June, which has since broken down.

Since the war began in February, Trump has repeatedly oscillated between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent.

“We’re going to ask for money for the damage they’ve done over a 50-year period,” Trump said at the White House, saying payments would cover deaths among both civilian demonstrators and U.S. forces in the region.

“So if there’s damages to be paid, I think Iran should pay those damages,” Trump said.

Oil prices settled five per cent higher on Monday after the demands dimmed prospects for a deal to reopen the strait.

Vehicles driving by a red-coloured banner in Tehran, which states in English and Farsi the message: "We will kill Trump." — Vehicles drive past a banner in Tehran on Monday, which carries a message in English and Farsi that says: ‘We will kill Trump.’ (Vahid Salemi/The Associated Press)

Trump cites attack blamed on al-Qaeda

Referring to Tehran’s crackdown on demonstrations in late 2025 and 2026, Trump said Iran had ⁠killed some 52,000 protesters as of six ⁠weeks ago. While some Iranian opposition and exile groups have claimed tens of thousands killed, ‌the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) in February reported around 7,000 deaths, including 6,500 protesters.

Trump encouraged protesters to overthrow the Iranian government when the war began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in February. Rights groups say the Iranian government has continued to crack down on opponents since then.

Trump also said Iran should compensate families of the 17 U.S. sailors killed in an October 2000 attack in Yemen on the naval vessel USS Cole, which has been ⁠blamed on al-Qaeda, not Iran.

In June, CBC senior international correspondent Margaret Evans and videographer Lyza Sale were granted rare access to report from inside Iran. Where they could travel and what they could report on was tightly controlled, but Iranian authorities had no editorial influence on the content and were not given access to CBC News material before it was published.

“Also, with respect to the Iran negotiations, Iran should be responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza!” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Iran earlier said it was nearing ‌a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the U.S. must meet conditions, including compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats before the key waterway is reopened.

The strait, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed prior to the conflict, has been effectively blocked since the war began, pushing up oil prices and inflation.

An unpopular war at home

Ironically, the agreement with Oman would give Tehran more leverage over the key waterway than it had before the war began.

A view of a bird flying past ships anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran. — A bird flies past ships anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Monday. (Ali Saeedi/Getty Images)

Trump is under pressure to end a war that is deeply unpopular at home ahead of midterm elections ⁠in November, and high fuel prices are a top issue in rural areas that have backed him in the past.

“What you’re seeing here is the beginning ⁠of a capitulation,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Keating said on CNN. “This is reality. It’s sinking in.”

Earlier on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said talks with ⁠Oman were “progressing ⁠smoothly and constructively,” with an agreement reached on a shipping route map, while some technical issues remained unresolved.

Baghaei said the discussions also covered services which would normally involve payment, such as safe navigation, environmental protection, maritime services and combating crime.

Trump urges Iran to take up ‘last chance’ opportunity to sign a good peace deal

U.S. officials have repeatedly ruled out any deal ⁠that would allow Tehran to charge fees for access to the strait.

But months of U.S. military efforts, including a two-week campaign of strikes in July, have not broken Iran’s grip on the strait, despite Trump’s misleading claim, ⁠repeated on Monday, that the strait was open and, “the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States navy.”

Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire in June, but the U.S. reimposed a blockade on Iranian shipping in July, a move that Tehran said violated the truce.

Iran has been striking back with missiles and drones against Washington’s allies in the region, while also targeting commercial ships transiting the strait without its permission. — Thomson Reuters

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