Washington: US President Donald Trump on Monday demanded that Iran pay compensation to people he said had been killed in wars, attacks and protests, a move that could further complicate efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s proposal, which had not been raised previously, came in response to Tehran’s demands for compensation and an end to sanctions. These demands largely align with the terms of a preliminary peace deal signed in June, which has since broken down.
“Well, we’re going to ask for money for that damage they’ve done over a 50-year period, whether you go [to the] USS Cole or whether you go [to] all of the people that were so badly hurt, so badly wounded or killed, many thousands of people. And maybe damages for the 52,000 protesters over the last four months that were killed in Iran. We think their families should get damages for killing their person or their child or mother, father that were protesting. It’s at least, it was 52,000 a month and a half ago. So now what is it? So, if there’s damages to be paid, I think Iran should pay those damages,” Trump told reporters.
On Sunday, Iran reiterated that reopening the crucial waterway was contingent on the US agreeing to a sweeping set of conditions, including paying war damages, unfreezing Iranian assets and ending what Tehran described as aggression against Iran and its allies in the region.
Since the war began in February, Trump has repeatedly alternated between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent.
Speaking at a White House event on vaccine guidelines, Trump also said the United States controls the Strait of Hormuz and had swept the strategic oil waterway for Iranian mines.