President Donald Trump salutes as a U.S. Army carry team carries the flag-draped transfer case containing the remains of 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, during a dignified transfer solemn event for US service members killed during operations in the Middle East, at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., on July 22, 2026. SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Aug. 10 that he will demand that Iran pay compensation to the United States for people the regime has killed, responding to Tehran having sought compensation for the damages it has incurred from U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Compensation to Iran “was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Aug. 10. “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.”
That includes troops who were killed on the USS Cole “and thousands of others killed in combat,” Trump said. In the year 2000, two suicide bombers detonated a boat with explosives off Yemen near the USS Cole, a destroyer, killing 17 sailors and injuring dozens more.
Trump’s post came after Iran said over the weekend that it was nearing a deal with Oman in defining new shipping lanes between the two countries in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has said that the United States must meet conditions including compensation, an end to sanctions, and what it said were military threats before the Strait can be reopened.
Earlier on Aug. 10, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said talks with Oman were “progressing smoothly and constructively,” with an agreement reached on a shipping route map, while some technical issues on a joint statement remained unresolved.
He said during a weekly press conference in Tehran that the discussions also covered mechanisms for safe navigation, environmental protection, maritime services, and combating crime, adding that such services would normally entail receiving payment in return.
U.S. officials have repeatedly said they would not accept any deal under which Tehran controlled or charged fees for access to the Strait.
Trump’s post also referred to the Iranian regime’s crackdown on mass protests that erupted earlier this year, or about a month before the United States and Israel launched their first wave of attacks against Iran on Feb. 28, following U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025.
“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,” Trump said on Aug. 10. “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.”
Human rights groups have said the Iranian regime has continued to crack down on political opponents during the war.
Iran should also be held responsible for damages and deaths caused in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Gaza, Trump added in a subsequent social media post.
On Aug. 9, Trump told media outlet Axios that the U.S. government is only “semi-negotiating” with Iran and said that he believes that economic pressure is working.
“We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he said, describing the country’s economy as being in “poor shape.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
