Trump Says Iran Ceasefire Is 'Over' as US Launches Fresh Strikes After Tanker Attacks
Photo: NASA / Public domain. An aerial view of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas passed before the war.
US President Donald Trump declared the interim ceasefire with Iran "over" on Wednesday, hours before American forces launched a fresh round of strikes on Iranian targets in retaliation for attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's over," Trump told reporters at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, when asked whether the truce with Iran was still intact. "For me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore."
Trump added that US representatives could continue negotiations with Tehran, but he cast doubt on the outcome. "We hit them very hard last night," he said when asked about a possible return to hostilities. "We'll probably hit them hard again tonight."
Second Night of US Strikes
Hours after Trump's remarks, the US military carried out another round of strikes on Iran, the second night of attacks in the renewed exchange. US Central Command said its forces struck more than 80 Iranian targets, including air defense systems, coastal radar sites and 60 small boats belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, in an operation aimed at degrading Tehran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the strait.
Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including the southern port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, as well as Bushehr, home to Iran's nuclear power plant complex. Iran's state-linked Mehr news agency also reported blasts in the port city of Bushehr following the latest spike in hostilities.
The strikes were retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial shipping earlier this week, after Tehran asserted that the interim ceasefire deal gives it the right to manage traffic through the strait. The US said the latest strikes were "in retribution for yesterday's bombing of ships by Iran," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "If it happens again, it will get much worse!"
Iran Hits Back at US Bases in the Gulf
Iran answered the American strikes with attacks on US military sites in the Persian Gulf region. Iran said it struck American bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, and Gulf states reported explosions, missile interceptions and security alerts. The Revolutionary Guard Corps called the retaliation the "first phase of the punitive response against the American treaty-breakers."
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator with the US, was defiant. "If you strike, you'll get hit," he wrote on X, adding that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen only under Iranian arrangements, not "American threats."
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte backed the latest US strikes, calling them "absolutely necessary." "When you have a ceasefire and Iran is basically violating the ceasefire, we see what happened yesterday with ships being attacked, I think it is totally crucial that the US forcefully reacts," Rutte told reporters before the summit in Ankara.
Oil Prices Jump as Talks Hang in the Balance
Oil prices jumped about 5 percent after Trump's remarks, as traders weighed the risk of a wider war disrupting supplies through the strait. The renewed fighting has already caused a dramatic fall in marine traffic through the waterway.
The collapse of the truce comes as Iran holds funeral observances for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war's opening hours on February 28. Negotiations on a final deal had been due to start after the funeral period, with the toughest issues including fully reopening the strait and rolling back Tehran's disputed nuclear program.
The Trump administration is demanding that Tehran make a public commitment to opening the Strait of Hormuz by Saturday or face serious consequences, a US official told the Wall Street Journal. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is due to travel to Oman on Saturday, according to Iranian state media, keeping a diplomatic channel open even as the fighting continues.
For now, the interim agreement that paused the fighting earlier this year lies in tatters. The ceasefire had already been tested several times by flare-ups after previous Iranian attacks on vessels, but Trump's remarks were the first written confirmation from the US president that Washington regards it as over.
Sources: The Times, Associated Press, Times of Oman, TRT World, US Central Command.