President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.
The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.
When pressed by ABC News’ Mary Bruce about what’s next for Iran after he rejected their demands, President Donald Trump said, “you’ll find out.”
Asked if escalation is still on the table, Trump repeated that response, saying, “Well, we have that — certainly that ability if we want to do that. Yeah, you’ll find out.”
Amirhosein Khorgooi/Isna via AP – PHOTO: A small boat sails past cargo ships and other commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Aug. 5, 2026.
Trump also repeated his demand for Iran to pay the U.S. back.
Asked when the Strait of Hormuz would open, Trump maintained that it is “open now” and that the U.S. controls it “100%,” though he acknowledged that Iran could “make trouble.”
-ABC News’ Emily Chang, Michelle Stoddart and Fritz Farrow
After Iran released demands of compensation as part of negotiations to end the war, President Donald Trump is responding with his own call for the Iran to pay the U.S., further entrenching the stalemate between the two countries.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters – PHOTO: President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, August 7, 2026.
Iran Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi said several days ago that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz was contingent on various conditions, including the U.S. paying Iran “compensation for violations” of the memorandum of understanding.
On Monday, Trump wrote on social media, “I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict (started because, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings!”
Trump said he is now making the same demand back, writing, “I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran.”
“Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months,” Trump wrote. “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.”
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart and Emily Chang
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said at a press conference on Monday that there are no direct negotiations ongoing between Iran and the U.S.
Existing communications are limited only to the exchange of messages through intermediaries, Baqaei said. He added that Tehran’s focus is now “on advancing negotiations with Oman to determine the final destination of the shipping route” through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Management and security of the Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s responsibility,” Baqaei said, adding that Tehran will not allow the strategic waterway to reopen unless the U.S. agrees to key Iranian demands, among them reconstruction funding and the lifting of sanctions.
“According to the agreements, the previous traffic routes will be replaced by a middle and safe route, which will act as a temporary route until a new traffic separation plan is reached,” Baqaei said of the plan under discussion by Iran and Oman.
“The main goal of the ongoing diplomatic negotiations is to reach a lasting understanding with Oman to establish complete security in this vital waterway,” he said.
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images – PHOTO: Vessels transit the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on Aug. 10, 2026.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian
The Yemeni Armed Forces said in a statement that at least four soldiers and three civilians were killed in an attack on the Red Sea port city of Mocha by the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels on Sunday.
At least 30 other people were injured, the army’s official spokesperson — Col. Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaili — said in the statement.
The attack involved the use of drones and missiles, Nuzaili said, and targeted “civilian infrastructure, employee residences and their families, power generation stations and civilian sites within the city, in addition to military sites,” the spokesperson added.
Stringer/Reuters – PHOTO: Smoke rises during Houthi missile and drone strikes on the Red Sea port city of Mocha, Yemen, on Aug. 9, 2026.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Hamas said in a statement Sunday that it “affirms its commitment” to Trump’s 15-point plan for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement with Israel in the Gaza Strip “and establishing a clear timetable for their implementation.”
The Hamas statement came in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments earlier in the day at an Israeli cabinet meeting that he would reject the plan, stating that “the IDF will not make any withdrawal until Hamas is truly disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and citizens.”
“We call upon the mediators, guarantors, and the Peace Council to assume their responsibilities, ensure the commitment of all parties to what has been agreed upon, and prevent any violations or breaches that could disrupt the implementation process or undermine the ceasefire agreement,” the Hamas statement continued, in part.
Hamas will “continue to engage positively and responsibly with efforts aimed at completing the implementation of the agreement,” the statement further said.
-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz
President Donald Trump said Sunday that the U.S. was “semi-negotiating” with Iran amid reports from Iranian state media that no formal negotiations were underway between the two countries.
“We are low-keying it,” Trump said during a brief phone call with Axios on Sunday.
Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images – PHOTO: President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable on the American mining industry at the US Department of State in Washington, August 7, 2026.
“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump added, Axios reported.
Iran confirmed earlier Sunday that “messages were being exchanged” through intermediaries but declined to call them negotiations.
“Trump stressed that Iran ‘is in very bad shape’ economically and has no money to pay its troops,” according to Axios, and further said “the U.S. naval blockade has exacerbated the Iranian regime’s economic crisis.”
“It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game,” the president also said, according to Axios.
-ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would reject the 15-point proposal for peace in Gaza put forward by President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
Trump previously announced an agreement for Hamas to disarm and for the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw from the Gaza Strip as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire signed last year.
“Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting on Sunday. “The IDF will not make any withdrawal until Hamas is truly disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and citizens.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Messages between the United States and Iran were being passed “through intermediaries,” an Iranian official told state media on Sunday, adding that that “the process should not be called negotiations.”
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images – PHOTO: Women walk past a political billboard at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on August 8, 2026.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi alleged that the United States continued to violate June’s memorandum of understanding, reportedly saying that until that “comes to an end and the United States compensates for what it has violated, the possibility of resuming negotiations does not exist.”
Araghchi also reiterated, according to state media, that an agreement with Oman does not mean the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened.
Amirhosein Khorgooi/AP Photo – PHOTO: A small boat sails past cargo ships and other commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026.
An opening “of the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on the fulfillment of other conditions, and these conditions have been conveyed to the American side through intermediaries,” he reportedly said.
-ABC News’ Rashid Haddou