Trump demands Iran pay compensation for decades of US soldier deaths

Donald Trump has said he will demand that Iran pay compensation for the deaths of thousands of US soldiers and Iran’s own civilians killed in recent decades in the latest sign his negotiations to end the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz have reached an impasse.

The US president is trying to end conflicts in Iran, Gaza and Lebanon, and his additional demands of Iran are likely to provoke anger in Tehran at the same time as Israel has rejected Trump’s terms for a 15-point roadmap to end the war in Gaza.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was issuing the demand for war reparations in response to Iranian negotiators making similar claims for damages for the five-month war that has killed thousands and devastated Iran’s military and economy.

“Now 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, as led initially by Gen Soleimani, including the families of those killed on the USS Cole, and thousands of others killed in combat,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protesters that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.”

The demands are likely to be a nonstarter for Iran’s leaders in the careful peace negotiations aimed at reopening the strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of global oil trade flowed before the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in late February. Trump and other senior negotiators have claimed many times that a deal is imminent, although none has materialised.

The remarks followed a series of setbacks for Trump’s efforts to end several Middle East conflicts before the midterm elections in November, in which high oil prices and inflation will probably hurt fellow Republicans at the polls.

On Sunday, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he rejected the Trump-backed Board of Peace’s 15-point plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza. Netanyahu had said Hamas must fully disarm before Israel would consider pulling out of Gaza, rather than the phased withdrawal proposed by the Board of Peace.

Netanyahu framed the decision as a rejection of US pressure on Israel to make peace in several wars in the Middle East. “Unlike all those who lecture us, we do what needs to be done for Israel’s security, and we can and know how to stand our ground, even against our best friends when necessary,” Netanyahu said.

Trump has not replied to Netanyahu’s statement, which was a remarkably public break between the leaders of the US and its closest ally in the Middle East. But in response to a shouted question in the Oval Office on Monday, he said his relationship with Netanyahu was “very good”.

Trump has sought to increase pressure on Iran. An hour after his first post demanding war reparations from Tehran, he broadened their scope to include the victims of recent wars throughout the region.

“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!” he wrote.