U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Washington’s ceasefire with Iran is over, after hostilities between the two sides escalated overnight.
During a joint news conference with NATO chief Mark Rutte at the military alliance’s summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, Trump said, “I think it’s over” in response to a reporter’s question.
“I don’t want to deal with them anymore … as far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” he added.
Trump said that Washington’s delegation wanted to negotiate a peace deal, but that he saw it as “a waste of time dealing with” the Iranian side.
Trump’s comments came after the U.S. and Iran accused each other of violating a ceasefire that was reached last month, in the wake of fresh strikes.
The U.S. military conducted a “series of powerful strikes” against Iran in retaliation for three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz coming under attack on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department withdrew a waiver that had allowed Iran to sell its oil.
Oil prices rose dramatically after Trump spoke, with global benchmark Brent crude futures for September delivery jumping 5.7% to trade at around $78.41 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures added 5.9%, climbing to $74.60 a barrel.
Oil prices
In a post Tuesday on X, Central Command said U.S. forces hit more than 80 targets, including air defense systems, command and control networks as well as anti-ship missile capabilities.
It added that more than 60 Revolutionary Guard small boats were hit to degrade Iran’s ability to attack international commerce.
In an earlier post, Centcom said that the strikes were “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”
“The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry labeled the strikes a “gross violation of the Memorandum of Understanding” Washington and Iran reached last month to bring their war to an end.
“The powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as they have repeatedly shown, will not hesitate to defend Iran’s territorial integrity, national sovereignty, and national security against American military aggression,” the ministry said, according to a Google translation.
The U.S. and Iran traded blows last month after similar Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the strait, a critical shipping route for oil and other vital commodities.
The effective closure of the waterway after the outbreak of the war saw oil prices surge, fueling concerns about an energy shock that could feed into higher inflation across the globe.
Correction: U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures added 5.9%, climbing to $74.60 a barrel. An earlier version mischaracterized the move.
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