Following renewed military exchanges and the effective collapse of a fragile interim agreement, the United States launched airstrikes hitting Iranian targets while Tehran retaliated with missile and drone attacks targeting U.S. military installations across the Middle East, according to regional reporting.
President Donald Trump declared early Wednesday that the cease-fire between the United States and Iran is effectively over, saying any negotiations are seemingly a waste of time
after the two countries exchanged their most significant military strikes in weeks. Speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the annual summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump was asked whether the cease-fire and the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) last month had collapsed. To me, I think it’s over,
Trump said.
The diplomatic framework designed to pause hostilities and reopen critical maritime lanes has shattered as the memorandum of understanding that the United States and Iran signed in June has fallen apart. The deal was meant to halt fighting, open the Strait of Hormuz, and create a 60-day window for further negotiations, but Iran and the United States are back to launching missiles and drones at each other and have shut down commerce through the strait.
Escalating Airstrikes and Regional Retaliation
After three tankers were hit Tuesday, the United States launched strikes on Iran, and Iranian forces retaliated by attacking American military sites in the Persian Gulf. Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including the southern port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, and Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.
At a military base in the United Kingdom after leaving a NATO summit in Ankara, Trump posted several videos on his social media site of what he said were explosions in Iran and issued another warning to Iran. This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!
Trump wrote. Trump had said earlier in the day that the latest back-and-forth fighting would not result in “long-term” military action. Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,
Trump said, though he also suggested the U.S. military might just finish the job.
The United States launched new airstrikes against Iran early Thursday, and Tehran responded by targeting U.S.-allied Mideast countries in an exchange of fire that threatened an interim deal intended to help end the war in the Middle East. Thursday’s attacks appeared bigger all around, with sirens sounding at least three times in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters, and missiles targeting Kuwait and Qatar. Sirens sounded Thursday afternoon in Jordan as well, where the U.S. has stationed troops and aircraft.
Diplomatic Impasse and Mediation Efforts
The president went on to sharply denounce Iran’s leadership, referring to them as “scum,” “sick people” and vicious, violent people,
while stating that the Iranian regime couldn’t be trusted to uphold any agreement. I don’t want to deal with them anymore,
he added. If they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.
Although Trump said his U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff remain willing and able to continue diplomatic efforts, he made clear he believes additional negotiations would accomplish little. They want to negotiate,
Trump said of Kushner and Witkoff. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them [the Iranian regime]. They’re liars.
Trump also renewed his past threats to hit Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalinization plants, and to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg Island. Iran has asserted that the interim cease-fire deal gives it the right to manage traffic through the strait. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a key negotiator in talks seeking a permanent end to the war, was defiant in a post on X: The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere.
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