Trump Scoffs at Iran's War Demand      08/11 06:05

   U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday scoffed at Iran's demand for 
reparations for devastation caused to the country by the U.S. and Israeli 
bombardment over the past five months -- a demand he said Tehran's negotiators 
hadn't raised until now.

   (AP) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday scoffed at Iran's demand for 
reparations for devastation caused to the country by the U.S. and Israeli 
bombardment over the past five months -- a demand he said Tehran's negotiators 
hadn't raised until now.

   Here's a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider 
Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

   Trump demands Iran pay for decades of US military deaths

   Trump's social media post Monday came after Iranian Foreign Ministry 
spokesperson Esmail Baghaei stressed that Iran will not reopen the Strait of 
Hormuz until the U.S. meets its conditions.

   Tehran wants the U.S. to end its blockade of Iranian ports, lift economic 
sanctions and release Iran's frozen assets. It also said the U.S. must pay 
compensation for war damage.

   "It is up to the U.S. side to stop and make amends for its illegal and 
destructive actions," Baghaei said.

   Trump responded that he is now demanding "compensation from Iran, for all of 
the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs 
and many conflicts."

   The U.S. government has blamed Iran-backed militants for the deaths and 
injuries of hundreds of Americans over several decades. They include a 1983 
bombing that killed 241 U.S. military personnel at a Marine compound in Beirut 
and the deaths of at least 603 U.S. troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2011.

   Trump said he also wants Tehran to compensate the families of Iranian 
protesters who were killed.

   "I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, 
future negotiations," Trump said in his post.

   The closure of the Strait of Hormuz -- through which roughly one-fifth of 
the world's traded oil supplies passed before the war -- has kept energy prices 
as a major focus of U.S. politics ahead of November's midterm elections.

   Iran's supreme leader is said to want unity amid signs of division

   Iran's president said the country's supreme leader is calling for "unity and 
cohesion" as the Islamic Republic faces economic hardships and sanctions 
stemming from its war with the United States.

   President Masoud Pezeshkian described a nearly seven-hour meeting with 
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in an interview with Iranian state television that 
aired amid apparent tensions among the Islamic Republic's leaders.

   Pezeshkian told the state-run IRIB that he and Khamenei discussed "people's 
livelihoods, the state of the market, employment, people's housing," as well as 
"problems that are now being created as a result of the (U.S.) sanctions." He 
didn't say when or where they met.

   Most important, he said, was Khamenei's emphasis on unity.

   "All of the enemy's plans are aimed at creating division," Pezeshkian said. 
"What we have to do is prevent divisions from emerging."

   It is only the second time the Iranian president has said he has met with 
the new supreme leader since Khamenei was appointed in March following a 
U.S.-Israeli strike that killed his father. Khamenei, believed to have been 
wounded in the same attack, has not appeared in public since then.

   Iran names former Revolutionary Guard leader to top security post

   Iran on Sunday appointed Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to its new 
supreme leader, to head its powerful Supreme National Security Council.

   Rezaei commanded Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard from 1981 to 1997, 
a period that includes Iran's 1980s war with Iraq. The 71-year-old hard-liner 
last week threatened American forces with "serious risks and casualties" if the 
U.S. did not lift its blockade of Iranian ports.

   Rezaei replaces Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who will become a political 
adviser to Khamenei.

   While Rezaei appears willing to negotiate with the U.S. to "secure Iran's 
maximalist aims, including control of the Strait of Hormuz," he has also been 
"unwilling to present any Iranian concessions," wrote the Institute for the 
Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank.

   Israel declares closed military zone in Taybeh

   Israel's military said Monday it had declared a Christian-majority town in 
the occupied West Bank a closed military zone to keep out Israeli settlers and 
other non-residents.

   The new tactic is designed to keep Israelis out of Taybeh, which has been 
subject to arson, vandalism and settlers coming onto private and village 
property. The army said Palestinian residents and journalists would be allowed 
unless soldiers determine their presence poses a threat. The army said its 
troops would detain suspects and disperse gatherings to keep the peace.

   The designation comes after months of the army and police struggling to 
maintain order throughout the territory, where at least 87 Palestinians have 
been killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers in 2026, according to the 
Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry.

   Yemen says the Houthi attack on a Red Sea town Sunday killed 7

   Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked a Red Sea port town controlled by 
government forces on Sunday, killing seven and injuring 30 people. Yemen's 
Defense Ministry -- which operates under its internationally recognized 
government -- said four military personnel and three civilians were killed.

   Clashes continued Monday near the village of Taiz. The Houthi group said a 
13-year-old child was killed by artillery shelling and another child was 
injured.

   The attack on Mokha is the latest in one of the largest waves of Houthi 
strikes on Yemeni military positions and areas held by the Saudi-backed 
government since a 2022 truce. It comes as threats to shipping through the 
Strait of Hormuz have renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait at 
its southern tip.