Circuit Wire — a daily news update from the Circuit.
President Donald Trump said Monday the United States will seek compensation from Iran for what he called "50 years" of damages, raising the stakes in a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz that has choked off most tanker traffic through the waterway since February.
Trump's demand followed Tehran's own condition that Washington pay war reparations before Iran will allow the strait to reopen. "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," Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that Iran should also cover deaths in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza.
The dispute complicates parallel talks between Iran and Oman over a new shipping route through the strait, which Iranian officials said were "progressing smoothly" even as the reparations demand stood. Iran's Revolutionary Guard-linked Supreme National Security Council said Sunday it would not reopen the waterway until Washington lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports, ends military threats, and releases frozen Iranian assets.
US Central Command said Monday it has redirected 55 commercial vessels and "disabled" at least two since reinstating the blockade in July. Maritime intelligence firm Windward reported a "complete halt" to Iranian oil exports from Kharg Island, and shipping tracker MarineTraffic recorded crossings falling from 15 on Friday to 11 on Saturday and six on Sunday.
The standoff builds on the tentative Hormuz route arrangement Circuit Wire covered in early August. Oil prices have risen roughly 2 percent as the blockade drags on, and Iranian-backed Houthi forces attacked the Yemeni port city of Mocha twice over the weekend, a reminder that the wider shipping risk extends well beyond the strait itself.
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