President Trump on Monday hit back at Iran’s outlandish demands to reopen the Strait of Hormuz with his own list of demands to serve as a new red line in negotiations.
After Tehran signaled that the strait won’t reopen until America pays the damages Iran incurred during the war, Trump signaled on Monday that he would take a page from the Islamic Republic with his own receipt.
“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 (started because, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), 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, 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 General Soleimani, including the families of those killed on the USS Cole, and thousands of others killed in combat,” the president added.
“Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.
“I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations,” Trump concluded.
The stance comes after Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, put forth six major demands before Tehran reopens the Strait of Hormuz.
Among the conditions were for the US to never threaten or insult Iran ever again and for the fighting in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Iraq to permanently end.
He also called for the US naval blockade to end and for all American forces to withdraw from around Iran.
The US would also have to pay damages for both the current war and last year’s July war, as well as lift all sanctions on Iran and agree to the unconditional release of all of Tehran’s frozen assets, Zolqadr said in a statement.
Until America “corrects its behavior,” the Strait of Hormuz will not open, the notice read.
The new demands from the US and Iran threaten to keep the oil chokepoint shut, with Ali Nikzad, the deputy speaker of Iran’s Parliament, reiterating Monday that the Islamic republic’s demands will not change.
“The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz has no military solution and [they] must submit to the new regional order,” he told state broadcaster IRIB.
The comments came as Iran appeared close to a limited deal with Oman to reopen a narrow passage for some vessels that would stop short of restoring normal traffic through the strategic waterway.
