Tehran Denies Making Demands That Deviate From 2015 Nuclear Agreement

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian speaks during a joint press conference with Al Thani in Tehran on Wednesday. (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian speaks during a joint press conference with Al Thani in Tehran on Wednesday. (AFP)
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Tehran Denies Making Demands That Deviate From 2015 Nuclear Agreement

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian speaks during a joint press conference with Al Thani in Tehran on Wednesday. (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian speaks during a joint press conference with Al Thani in Tehran on Wednesday. (AFP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday that Tehran did not raise any demands that go beyond the nuclear agreement in the indirect talks with Washington.

His comments came a week after the failure of the latest round of diplomatic efforts mediated by the European Union in Doha.

In a joint press conference in Tehran with his Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, Abdollahian said: “We have no requirement which goes beyond the nuclear agreement -- contrary to certain claims by the American party in the media… Our request is part of the 2015 agreement.”

Al Thani, for his part, expressed Qatar’s support for “reaching a fair agreement”, taking into account the concerns of all parties, as reported by Qatar News Agency (QNA).

He added that his visit to Tehran came amid “many regional challenges,” underlining the importance of “constructive efforts by all neighboring countries to make nuclear negotiations and regional dialogue a success.

During his visit to Tehran, Al Thani also met with Ali Shamkhani, Secretary-General of Iran’s National Security Council.

“Iran has entered a new round of negotiations with the aim of reaching a strong, sustainable and reliable agreement,” Shamkhani said, as reported by Nournews, the platform of the National Security Council.

State media in Tehran reported that Al Thani and Shamkhani focused on bilateral and regional issues, the latest political and security developments, and some private matters.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington aimed at reviving the nuclear deal ended last week without the hoped-for progress.

Al Thani’s visit came a day after Abdollahian and the European Union’s External Affairs Commissioner, Josep Borrell, held a phone call.

Abdollahian said on Twitter: “The agreement is only possible on the basis of understanding and mutual interests. We remain ready to negotiate a strong and lasting agreement. The United States must decide whether it wants to deal or insists on sticking to its unilateral demands.”



Trump Demands Iran Pay Compensation for Deaths as Hormuz Deal Hopes Fade

US President Donald Trump attends an event to sign executive orders related to birthright citizenship and the polysilicon industry, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, August 6, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump attends an event to sign executive orders related to birthright citizenship and the polysilicon industry, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, August 6, 2026. (Reuters)
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Trump Demands Iran Pay Compensation for Deaths as Hormuz Deal Hopes Fade

US President Donald Trump attends an event to sign executive orders related to birthright citizenship and the polysilicon industry, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, August 6, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump attends an event to sign executive orders related to birthright citizenship and the polysilicon industry, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, August 6, 2026. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump on Monday demanded Iran pay compensation for the deaths of people he said it had killed in wars, attacks and protests, raising the rhetorical stakes with Tehran as hopes faded for an imminent deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. 

Trump said he was responding to Iran's earlier call for Washington to meet conditions, including recompensing Tehran for the damage caused in the more than five months since the US and Israel launched strikes on its territory. 

"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," Trump wrote on ‌his Truth Social ‌service. 

The abrupt new US demand was not mentioned in any previous talks. Trump ‌said ⁠it would be ⁠included in all future negotiations with Iran, and would include calls for payments to families of hundreds of thousands of protesters he said Iran had killed. 

He also suggested Iran should compensate "families of those killed on the USS Cole", a reference to the October 12, 2000, attack on that naval vessel in Yemen which killed 17 US sailors, and has been blamed on al-Qaeda, not Iran. 

Iran had earlier said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the US must meet conditions, including ⁠compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats before the key waterway ‌is reopened. 

The strait, through which about a fifth of global ‌oil and liquefied natural gas flowed prior to the conflict, has been effectively blocked since the US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February ‌28, pushing up oil prices and inflation. 

Oil prices had jumped 3% after the statement from ‌Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, as initial optimism about a potential deal over the strait was tempered by Iran's talk of conditions. Brent crude extended gains to trade up 4.25% at 1720 GMT. 

Dutch and British front-month gas prices rose more than 10%. 

Trump, who has said the attacks on Iran were aimed at keeping Tehran from developing ‌nuclear weapons and degrading its ability to threaten the region, is under pressure to end a war that is deeply unpopular at home ahead of midterm elections ⁠in November. 

Washington and Tehran ⁠agreed to a ceasefire in June, but the US reimposed a blockade on Iranian shipping in the Gulf in July, a move that Tehran said violated the truce, which by then had already broken down. 


Iran Supreme Leader Names Guards General Abdollahi Military Chief

A delivery person rides a motorcycle near an image of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on August 8, 2026. (AFP)
A delivery person rides a motorcycle near an image of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on August 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran Supreme Leader Names Guards General Abdollahi Military Chief

A delivery person rides a motorcycle near an image of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on August 8, 2026. (AFP)
A delivery person rides a motorcycle near an image of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on August 8, 2026. (AFP)

Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei named Revolutionary Guards general Ali Abdollahi head of the country's armed forces on Monday, while also confirming a new commander of the Guards, putting his imprimatur on the country's military.

Abdollahi had previously led the Khatam al-Anbiya, Iran's inter-branch central military command tasked with coordinating operations.

A statement on Khamenei's website announced that "Major General Ali Abdollahi has been appointed chief of staff of the armed forces. Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi has also been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guard Corps with the rank of major general."

The pair represent Khamenei's first senior military appointments since being named supreme leader early in the Middle East war after the death of his father in US-Israeli strikes.


Iran Presses Demands on US as Shipping Standoff Grinds on

 Vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, August 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, August 10, 2026. (Reuters)
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Iran Presses Demands on US as Shipping Standoff Grinds on

 Vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, August 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, August 10, 2026. (Reuters)

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States meets its conditions.

“It is up to the US side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions,” Esmail Baghaei said Monday, noting the American blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran wants the US to end the blockade, pay compensation for months of war damage, lift economic sanctions and release Iran's frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil supplies — has become the war’s most lasting consequence.

The impasse has kept energy prices as a major focus of US politics ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Iran is holding separate talks with Oman over transit through the strait, including potentially a temporary shipping corridor. But it has said any actual reopening is contingent on talks with the US.