Trump asks Iran to pay compensation for slain US soldiers

US President Donald Trump has demanded compensation from Iran for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and Iran’s own civilians killed in recent decades.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump said he made the demands as a response to Tehran’s condition for reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

“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,” Trump said.

The October 2000 USS Cole naval attack has previously been blamed on al-Qaeda, not Iran.

“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,” Trump added.

Though talks between Iran and Oman on the Strait of Hormuz are ongoing, Tehran has said it will not open the vital waterway unless Washington agrees to pay war reparations and end sanctions.

The US had previously agreed to Iran’s demands in the peace agreement signed in June, which has since broken down over a dispute on control over the strait.

Under the agreement, Iran was set to receive a reconstruction package worth $300 billion from the US.

About a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas was transported through Hormuz before the US-Israel war on Iran.

Oil prices have since surged through the roof, destabilising dozens of economies including Nigeria.

Trump’s new demands of reparations from Iran risk complicating efforts to reopen the maritime passage. (TheCable)