Iran-US war latest: Trump demands compensation from Iran in snub to six-point ultimatum

This article first appeared on our partner site, Independent Persian

“We’re constantly terrified by the sound of explosions. The electricity and water keep being cut off. We are without jobs and have no food. It feels like no one is coming to help the people of southern Iran. We don’t want war.”

These remarks reflect dozens of messages and firsthand accounts received by Independent Persian from residents of the southern provinces of Hormozgan, Bushehr, Khuzestan and Sistan and Baluchestan.

With intermittent US military strikes on southern Iran in recent weeks under a very precarious ceasefire, residents say they are now grappling not only with the threat of explosions but also prolonged power outages, water cuts, internet disruptions, shuttered businesses and a complete lack of meaningful government support.

After Iran on Saturday demanded the US meet six new conditions, including compensation for the war, before they reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump on Monday indicated he was surprised by the terms – and demanded compensation from Iran.

“I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict … even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings!” he wrote on Truth Social.

“But it is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran …”

He concluded: “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.”

Hopes of reopening the Strait appeared less likely in light of the post.

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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 said in a post on Truth Social that Iran had never mentioned such terms in their prior meetings. But the Iranian demands were largely in line with the terms of a preliminary peace deal signed in June, which has since broken down.

Referring to Tehran’s crackdown on demonstrations in late 2025 and 2026, he also said Iran had killed some 52,000 protesters. The US based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) put the figure closer to 6,500 in February.

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.

While Washington continues to insist a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is coming, Iran says its terms must be met first. Also, an agreement with Oman would give Tehran more leverage over the key waterway than it had before the war began, further complicating future talks with the US.

Solving the Hormuz issue without creating a dangerous precedent has become an impossible task, says Anchal Vohra.

If Iran can blackmail the global community into paying for safe passage, what’s stopping the Houthis from blocking Bab al-Mandab, the vital 20-mile-wide“Gate of Tears” located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, or anyone else?

Trump might still sing his own praises, but diplomats across the world are holding their heads in their hands, waiting for him to leave the White House and hoping for someone reasonable to come to power:

Quoting his own post on Truth Social, Donald Trump goes on to blame Iran for the casualties inflicted by regional wars.

Donald Trump is taking a wait-and-see approach to Iran as negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and permanently end the war appear to have once again stalled following reports that the president is reportedly considering walking away from the conflict without securing a nuclear deal.

“We are low keying it,” Trump told Axios on Sunday, claiming the U.S. strategy will eventually “work out.”

“We are only semi-negotiating with them,” he added. “We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”

Iran’s top security official has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain shut until the US meets six demands, including compensation for the war.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, laid out Iran’s terms in a statement on Saturday.

In his words, these were:

1. Never, and in no language, threaten Iran or insult the sanctities of this nation.

2. Permanently end the war and aggression against Iran and Iran’s allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq.

3. Lift the naval blockade and withdraw its military forces (naval and air) from around Iran.

4. Pay in full, without any reduction, the damages caused to Iran by the two wars of aggression and imposition.

5. Lift the unjust and illegal sanctions against the Iranian nation.

6. Unconditionally release the blocked and stolen assets of the Iranian people.

Donald Trump now claims the US has already mineswept the entire Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has maintained a grip on traffic passing between the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf while insisting the narrow channel remains shut.

Intertanko, the tanker owners association, relayed estimates in June there were around 80 mines still in the strait hindering navigation and keeping ships to agreed Iranian routes.