Newsman: President Trump said Wednesday he believes the current ceasefire with Iran is over following an intense exchange of fire between the two sides on Tuesday into Wednesday morning. The latest escalation straining the agreement to end the war – and he said he may hit Iran with more strikes tonight.
Speaking with reporters in Ankara on Wednesday during a press conference alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said that negotiations between the U.S. and Iran will continue, but said of the agreement, “For me, I think it’s over.”
“I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people,” Trump said of Iran’s leadership in response to a question.
“And they’re vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” the president continued. “There’s something wrong with them, they’re cuckoo,” Trump added.
The president did, however, suggest that U.S.-Iranian negotiations over a final peace deal could continue.
Trump insisted the deal would bring “peace and security” to the region. But within just weeks, he’s amped up aggression.
“We hit them very hard last night. Probably hit them hard again tonight,” he said.
Trump said the U.S. hasn’t attacked Iran at the “highest level” yet, saying he could hit electric plants and desalination plants.
“I don’t want to do that but if we have to, we’ll take them out,” Trump said. Attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime.
He also floated the idea of reinstituting the naval blockade on Iran. The president, however, did not rule out talks continuing to permanently end the war with Iran.
He said the top U.S. negotiators, special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, want to continue to negotiate.
But, Trump added, “as far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They’re liars,” he said.
The stunning turnaround comes after Trump recently celebrated the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran to help end the war he and Israel started.
The 14-point MOU committed the signatories to the reopening Strait of Hormuz for commercial traffic, with the U.S. lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iran also committed not to pursue nuclear weapons — a commitment Tehran has previously made — while the U.S. agreed to allow Iranian oil sales and to begin work on a $300 million reconstruction fund for the country.
Under the MOU, fighting — including between Israel and the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon — would stop for 60 days while the U.S. and Iran negotiate the terms of a final deal, which would cover issues including Iran’s nuclear material.
Trump’s comments came after the U.S. and Iran traded attacks again overnight Wednesday, the second such escalation since the two sides signed an interim deal in mid-June.
The strikes followed Tuesday’s attacks from Iran on three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. said it carried out strikes on Iranian targets in what it said was retaliation for the previous Iranian aggression.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said it responded to those strikes by launching missiles and drones against Kuwait and Bahrain, two Arab Gulf countries that host U.S. military bases.
“I’ll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate. They’re good people. Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, but they have to come back to me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” Trump said on Wednesday.
“I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it,” Trump said later in the press conference, adding that he did not care whether talks continued after funeral proceedings for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei concluded.
When the MOU was signed last month, Trump said the deal “achieves everything we set out to accomplish, everything and much more.” But key issues, including the status of Iran’s nuclear program, remained unaddressed.
The White House has demanded an end to all Iranian enrichment of uranium, a proposal repeatedly rebuffed by Tehran, which says it needs to enrich uranium to power its civil nuclear power network.
On Wednesday, the president again said his administration would accomplish the “denuclearization of Iran.”
“We’re going to de-nuke it. We’re not going to let them, because they’re crazy, and they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Intermittent exchanges of fire have continued between the U.S. and Iran despite the signing of the MOU in June.
Since Monday, U.S. Central Command said Iran had attacked three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM said it then launched retaliatory strikes on more than 80 Iranian targets, including air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities and small boats.
Iran’s military said on Wednesday that it responded to the renewed American strikes by attacking 85 U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Trump on Wednesday lauded what he called the “powerful” U.S. strikes, adding, “We hit them very hard.”
“I told them every time you hit, we hit, and of course they’re dirty players, so they go after everyone, probably including me,” the president continued, referring to alleged Iranian assassination plots in which Trump said he remains a target.
“They want to take out the U.S. leader — me. I’m on every list. I saw things this morning, I’m on every single one of their lists, and so far I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn’t last very long, because that’s the way it goes,” Trump said.
A cargo ship is pictured off coast of the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal along the Gulf of Oman on
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament who has been serving as Tehran’s chief peace negotiator, said in a post to X early on Wednesday that the U.S. had violated the MOU with its latest strikes.
Despite friction in the alliance, Trump and the allies have found common ground on Ukraine.
Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the gathering, and said that the U.S. will allow Ukraine a license to produce Patriot Missiles, which he called “pretty cool.”
“We’re going to give a license to you to make Patriots … This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving ’em enough,” Trump said in the meeting with Zelenskyy.
Negotiating an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine “getting closer,” without providing much further detail he said. He also said he would soon speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump is in Ankara, to attend the NATO summit, where he has continued to air grievances, lamenting that European countries don’t contribute enough to their own defense spending, as Russia’s war against Ukraine has dragged on.He has also expressed frustration since the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran began that Europe hasn’t been supportive enough of his agenda.
Earlier in the day, the president said he was “testing” allies on how they’d help with the war.
“Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down, and it’s OK, but you know, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars and they’re not there for us? We’ve always been there for them,” Trump said.
The tension between Trump and NATO nations has also grown as the president continued on Tuesday to insist that the U.S. should have control of Greenland, a territory currently under Denmark.
On Tuesday, Trump met with the leader of the host nation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he considers a friend. The two discussed the U.S. potentially selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey — despite there being a congressional ban in place that prevents this.
“We have a very good relationship. … Why wouldn’t we do that?” Trump said in his meeting with Erdogan.
