WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said Monday he would demand compensation from Iran for “all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded,” as part of any peace negotiations.Trump’s announcement was a direct response to Iran’s insistence that US payment of war reparations are a pre-condition to any resolution of the ongoing hostilities.Trump’s social media post came after Iran said over the weekend it was nearing a deal with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the US must meet conditions including the payment of compensation for the damages it has incurred from US and Israeli attacks before the strategic waterway is reopened.“It is an interesting idea because 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,” he wrote on Truth Social.He noted that his demand included not only damages arising from the current war, but also Iranian attacks on US targets going back more than two decades as well as payments to the families of Iranian protesters killed by authorities over the past 50 years.Negotiations on ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz have stalled, and Trump’s new demands risk putting a quick agreement further out of reach.In a later post, Trump also said that the Islamic republic should be responsible for deaths and damage it caused in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Gaza.In what has become a regular pattern, Trump last week threatened to hit Iran “very hard,” potentially with attacks against civilian infrastructure, only to pull back, hinting a peace deal was near.Trump this weekend said he was “low-keying” his approach to the conflict, suggesting that he was prepared to let economic pressure mount in place of further military strikes.Digital media outlet Axios said that the US president did not express any frustration with Iran’s delaying an agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz in their interview with him published Sunday.Tehran has demanded that the US first end its blockade of Iranian ports and lift sanctions on its oil industry.As negotiations have floundered, the strait’s blockage by Iran has sent fuel prices soaring and rattled the world economy, putting pressure on Trump ahead of midterm elections in November.In his post, Trump also referenced and claimed compensation from Iran for the October 2000 bombing of the US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole at a Yemeni port, which he has previously said Iran was “probably involved” in. The FBI has attributed that bombing, which killed 17 sailors and wounded more than three dozen others, to al Qaeda.On Monday he said his various demands for compensations would be put “firmly into any, and all, future negotiations” with Iran.
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