Middle East updates: Iran demands US concessions over Strait of Hormuz

Iran's Foreign Ministry reiterated that the US must meet several demands before the Strait of Hormuz is reopened. Meanwhile, Germany says Donald Trump's plan for Gaza could get Hamas to put down its weapons. DW has more.

This blog has now closed. Below are the major developments in the war in Iran and wider conflict in the Middle East from Monday, August 10.

Iran won't reopen Strait of Hormuz until the United States meets its demands to end the war

Tehran says ships will be expected to pay for transit through the narrow waterway

In other news from the Middle East, Germany says the US plan for Gaza could help disarm Hamas

US President Donald Trump reportedly departed from Turkey on a secret military flight in July instead of flying aboard an older Air Force One as announced by the White House.

This was in response to a credible assassination threat from Iran, the Washington Post reported, as the monthslong war continued.

Trump had taken the newly renovated Qatari-donated jet to Ankara for the NATO summit in July. However, he unexpectedly announced he would use an older Air Force One when departing the country, "for old times's sake." The move had then raised questions over the donated jet's safety.

Trump boarded the older Air Force One in front of cameras but was secretly shuttled by an airport catering truck to a smaller plane, an Air Force C-32A, it said, citing corroborating material and a US official familiar with the operation.

Journalists aboard the decoy Air Force One, where they were believed to be accompanied by the US President, said they had been advised to keep their window shades closed in the press cabin.

When they inquired about it later, Trump said it was because they were "probably on a dangerous flight."

"But if I go, you go. Right?" he added.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has replaced six top Iranian military figures according to decrees made public on Telegram late Monday evening.

The move represents Khamenei's first senior military appointments since being chosen to replace his father, who was killed in the early hours of the war.

Khamenei appointed Revolutionary Guards General Ali Abdollahi head of Iran's armed forces and confirmed Ahmad Vahidi as commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Abdollahi previously led the Khatam al-Anbiya, Iran's military operations coordinating command.

Earlier this month, he warned regional neighbors that "any country serving as a defensive shield for criminal and aggressive America will be engulfed by the flames of war."

Hossein Taeb, a long-serving intelligence officer, was appointed head of the paramilitary Basij militias and Brigadier Ali Asmai was appointed commander of the IRGC's naval forces.

Two further appointments concerned deputy positions.

The shake-up comes after Khamenei appointed former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaee chairman of Iran's National Security Council on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" organization contends that its "plans for Gaza" remain operable, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's very vocal rejection of an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave until the militant group Hamas is "genuinely disarmed."

The Reuters news agency quoted a board representative as saying, "The plan is very much still operative and advancing."

"The road map is between the Board of Peace and Hamas, and discussions with Israel are continuing. Israel is not being asked to rely on trust or to make irreversible moves before verified steps are taken on the ground," the official said.

Board of Peace head Nikolay Mladenov, a former UN special envoy for the Middle East and former Bulgarian foreign minister, told Israeli broadcaster N12 that "both Israelis and the people in Gaza have one shared strong interest, and that is to get out of this horrible cycle of violence that has cost so many lives and destruction to both sides."

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States would demand compensation from Iran, in response to Tehran saying it would seek compensation after US and Israeli attacks.

Over the weekend, Iran said it was nearing a deal with Oman on new shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz. But it said that reopening the waterway would depend on Washington meeting various conditions — including an end to sanctions, military threats and an agreement on compensation for damages resulting from the war.

Trump said that this was "never mentioned" in any negotiations with the US to date.

"But 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," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He cited specifically a 2000 terrorist suicide bombing of the USS Cole ship, but alleged there were "thousands of others killed in combat."

Trump's remarks come a day after he said he was not engaging in major talks with Iran, telling US media outlet Axios that the US was "low-keying" its approach.

The US and Iran have frequently put out vastly contradictory claims and counterclaims about the status and details of their talks and terms.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that he had a nearly seven-hour meeting with Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

He did not, however, say exactly when or where they met.

Pezeshkian told the state-run IRIB that he and Khamenei discussed "people's livelihoods, the state of the market, employment, people's housing." He said they also talked about "problems that are now being created as a result of the sanctions."

Most important, Pezeshkian said, was the importance Khamenei put on "unity and cohesion."

"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 said he has met with the supreme leader since Khamenei was appointed in March. He came to power after a US-Israeli strike killed his father. Khamenei, believed to have been wounded in the same attack, has not appeared in public since then.

The German government regards US President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza as an opportunity to make progress toward the disarmament of Hamas, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

Asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement Sunday that Israel rejected the US-led plan, the spokesperson said some disagreement was not surprising.

"With such a complex undertaking, it was perfectly clear there would be many, many unanswered questions," he added.

Late last month, Trump hailed a 15-point plan that would see Hamas lay down its weapons and the Israeli military withdraw from the Gaza Strip. It expands on an October 2025 ceasefire agreement that slowed, but did not end, the conflict in the Palestinian territory, about two-thirds of which is under Israeli control.

Despite the truce, Israel continued to carry out airstrikes in Gaza. Health officials there say more than 1,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since October 2025. Five Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza during that time. Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US, Germany and several countries, does not disclose figures on its war dead.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said Israeli troops would not leave the Gaza Strip until Hamas had been "genuinely" disarmed.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Iran would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States met its conditions.

"It is up to the US side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions," Esmail Baghaei said on Monday.

In a statement over the weekend, a member of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and Revolutionary Guards commander said Tehran demanded that the United States:

Never threaten Iran again

Pay compensation for months of war damage

Permanently end its war against Iran and its allies in the region, namely Lebanese militants Hezbollah; Houthi rebels in Yemen; and Hamas in the Gaza Strip

Lift its blockade of Iranian ports and ships in the Strait of Hormuz and pull its military out of the area

Lift sanctions and release frozen Iranian assets

The impasse over the Strait of Hormuz has led to a global jump in fuel prices.

Iran is holding talks with Oman over transit through the strait, including a possible temporary shipping corridor, but it has said any actual reopening depends on negotiations with the United States.

On Sunday, however, US President Donald Trump said the US is not engaged in major talks with Iran.

"We are low-keying it," he said, according to US media outlet Axios. "We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money."

Trump also expressed his optimism that a satisfactory conclusion would eventually be reached.

"It will work out. It always works out. It's like a chess game," he said of the war.

Iran intends to charge commercial vessels for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement Monday from the Foreign Ministry.

Iranian media cited spokesperson Esmail Baghaei as saying that Iran was working with Oman on "mechanisms for monitoring security, protecting the environment and combating crime at sea."

Fees would be for maritime services provided to ships, he said.

The dispute over transit rights in the strait, through which some 20% of the world's oil passed before the war and which is a key route for gas and fertilizer, is regarded as a key reason behind the continuation of the war against Iran.

Before the United States and Israel launched the conflict against Iran at the end of February, shipping through the waterway did not incur tolls nor fees for transit.

The Strait of Hormuz measures only around 39 kilometers (24 miles) at its narrowest point.

Since Iran and Oman each claim the maximum 12 nautical miles allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as their territorial waters, there are no international waters in the narrowest part of the roughly 21-nautical-mile-wide strait.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea guarantees a right of transit passage and prohibits a blockade of commercial vessels. Iran, however, does not accept this legal position.

The US goal is to restore pre-war levels of oil and gas transit through the Strait of Hormuz, US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday.

Hello from the DW newsroom in Bonn, Germany, and welcome to our coverage of the war in Iran and developments from across the Middle East.

One issue DW is looking at is Iran's announcement that it intends to charge commercial vessels for transiting the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with a still-unreached agreement with Oman on the future management of the narrow waterway.