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US President Donald Trump has said he will seek compensation for the deaths of US soldiers in talks with Iran, a move that comes after Tehran demanded compensation for the war to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Middle East Eye
On Monday (August 11), Trump wrote on his social media account Truth Social, “Iran is demanding compensation for the damage it has suffered in the last five months of military conflict. I am also demanding compensation from Iran.”
Trump said he wanted compensation not only for the losses of the current war, but also for US troops killed in attacks by Iranian-backed armed groups over the past two decades since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
He specifically mentioned the deaths and injuries of US troops in roadside bombs linked to the late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, which Iran allegedly supplied to Shiite militias in the mid-2000s during its occupation of Iraq.
It is worth noting that Trump ordered the killing of Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020. The operation was carried out on charges of supporting Tehran-backed armed groups.
Trump’s post also mentioned the 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship. However, US intelligence agencies blamed Al-Qaeda, not Iran, for that attack.
Trump also demanded compensation for the families of Iranian citizens killed during the crackdown on protests earlier this year. He cited the crackdown on protests in Tehran as one of the reasons for the US and Israel’s war against Iran in February 2026.
Trump claims that 50,000 people were killed in the incident. However, an Iranian official said the death toll was at least 5,000.
It is not yet clear whether Trump is really considering compensation for the deaths of US soldiers as a condition for a ceasefire in peace talks. But his comments come after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Bagheire said Iran would not open the Strait of Hormuz until it received war compensation.