Among those demands is compensation for damage Iran says it suffered during the ongoing conflict.
Iran has also called for Washington to change its conduct, lift pressure on the regime and take other steps before Tehran agrees to restore normal traffic through the strait. The demands have added another major obstacle to negotiations already complicated by deep disagreements between the two governments.
But Trump was not interested in accepting the premise that Iran should simply receive a check from the United States.
Instead, he answered Tehran’s demand with a counterproposal: If Iran believes countries responsible for wartime damage should pay compensation, then Tehran should be prepared to compensate Americans and others who have suffered from Iranian-backed violence.
“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!”
Trump then made his position even clearer.
“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,” Trump posted.
The president also broadened his demand beyond American military casualties.
“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 the demand would not be treated as a passing comment.
“I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations,” Trump wrote.
He later expanded his argument to include people affected by Iran’s regional activities.
“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!”
The message from the White House was unmistakable: Washington is not prepared to enter negotiations in which Iran presents itself solely as the victim while demanding financial compensation from the United States.
The exchange also comes as Trump appears to be taking a more measured approach to the possibility of additional military action.
Speaking to Axios on Sunday, Trump described the administration’s current strategy in notably restrained terms.
“We are low-keying it,” Trump told Axios Sunday.
“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he said.
Trump argued that Iran’s economic problems are becoming an increasingly important factor in the confrontation.
The president said the Iranian government is “in very bad shape” economically and claimed the regime is struggling to pay its soldiers. He has also pointed to pressure on Iran’s ports and the broader economic consequences of the conflict.
For Trump, economic pressure could ultimately accomplish what another round of military escalation might not.
The president has also emphasized the impact of falling oil prices on Americans at home. Lower energy costs, from his perspective, give the United States additional room to maintain pressure without imposing the same burden on American consumers.
“It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game,” Trump said of dealing with Iran.
That chess-game comparison may be the clearest indication yet of how the administration is approaching the confrontation.
Rather than immediately choosing between full-scale negotiations and expanded military action, Trump appears to be keeping multiple options available while watching for signs that Iran’s economic and political pressures are forcing its leaders toward a compromise.
Iran itself is hardly presenting a unified front.
Trump has described the Iranian leadership as divided between figures who want to bring the conflict to an end and others who remain unwilling to accept an agreement with Washington.
Vice President J.D. Vance offered a similar assessment over the weekend, making clear that the administration does not believe the confrontation has reached its conclusion.
“This thing is not over. It’s obviously not at the beginning. We’re in the middle of the game, and we’re applying a whole host of tools — diplomatic, economic, military tools — to ensure that we get the best outcome for the American people,” he said.
That approach leaves the next phase of the Iran confrontation wide open.
For Tehran, the Strait of Hormuz remains a powerful bargaining chip because of its importance to global energy shipments. For Washington, however, the economic pressure on Iran provides another lever that does not necessarily require immediate escalation on the battlefield.
Trump’s response has also changed the political tone of the compensation dispute.
Iran entered the argument demanding that the United States compensate it for damage suffered during the conflict. Trump effectively responded by putting decades of Iranian actions on the negotiating table as well.
Whether that strategy produces a breakthrough remains to be seen.
But one thing is already clear: Tehran’s demand for compensation did not produce the reaction Iranian officials may have expected.
Instead of accepting the role of the party responsible for paying, Trump turned the demand around and told Iran that if compensation becomes part of the negotiations, Tehran should be prepared to answer for the consequences of its own actions.
And with Washington maintaining diplomatic, economic and military pressure simultaneously, the next move may ultimately depend less on rhetoric and more on which side believes it has more leverage when the negotiating table comes back into focus.
