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US President Donald Trump said the interim deal to end the war with Iran was “finished” on Wednesday after Tehran attacked US bases in the Gulf.
In a flare-up of tensions that have pushed oil prices to a two-week high, Iran said it was targeting US military bases in Bahrain and Kuwait after the US military launched an attack on Iranian tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
The attack also undermined efforts to turn a mutual agreement reached last month into a lasting peace agreement to end the war, which began with US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran in Feb. 28.
Asked before a NATO summit in Turkey whether the memorandum of understanding reached last month was over, Trump said: “It’s a very interesting question. To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them.”
“They are cowards. They are sick people. They are led by sick people,” he told reporters in Ankara. “For me, it’s just a waste of time to deal with them.”
It was the latest change of tone for Trump, who said last month that Iran’s new leadership had “much less radicals” than those who existed before the start of the war, and that the new Iranian leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has a “very good reputation” “in some circles.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards previously said it carried out joint missile and drone operations against key US military bases in Bandar Salman, Bahrain’s Fifth Naval District and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and shot down a US MQ-9 aircraft trying to disrupt the operation.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait, and the Kuwaiti military said its air defenses were facing “hostile” missile and drone attacks. There was no immediate comment on the US military strikes.
On Wednesday, the US launched a wave of military strikes against Iran in response to an attack on tanks in the Strait of Hormuz. The new military strikes came as the US revoked a license allowing Iran to sell oil because of attacks on three tankers on the road.
Oil prices rose more than 3 percent after the US announced the move.
The US Central Command said more than 60 small Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats were among the targets during the operation, which was aimed at inflicting heavy costs on Iran through strikes on shipping that violates the ceasefire.
“The unauthorized violence by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of movement,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
US attack ‘necessary,’ says NATO’s Mark Rutte
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters before the NATO leaders’ summit that a new US attack on Iran was “absolutely necessary.”
“If you end the war and Iran violates the ceasefire, I think it is very important that the US reacts forcefully,” Rutte said.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait “unacceptable.”
“Next Monday, EU Foreign Ministers will meet with their Gulf counterparts to discuss how we can work together to support the implementation of the agreement and preserve freedom of navigation in the waters of the Strait and the Red Sea.”
The main military command in Iran, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, condemned the US strikes as “a clear act of aggression,” threatened a “brutal response,” and warned that Tehran will not allow US interference in controlling the ship.
As the US and Israel-Iran war escalated, Captain Raman Kapoor was stranded for more than two months on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf with 23 sailors begging to return home.
Iran’s chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, accused the US of violating the ceasefire agreement. He not only mentioned the recent US military strikes, but renewed the oil embargo, the violation of the Iranian “fix” in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Israeli attack against Lebanon.
“The era of bullying and fraud is over,” said Qalibaf on the X site. “We are not giving up.”
Iranian media previously reported explosions at Iran’s oil fields on Kharg Island, Qeshm Island and the southern port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas.
Several were injured in Iran
Iran’s Press TV reported that several explosions were heard south of Kharg Island. CENTCOM did not mention Kharg Island, where Iran exports 90 percent of its crude oil.
A US official told Reuters that the strikes targeted Iran’s air defense systems, coast guard systems, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and drone launch sites.
No casualties were reported in Iran, but several people were injured by explosives from an “enemy project” that hit a shopping center in Sirik, according to an Iranian state TV reporter. Reports say that strikes have also hit fishing grounds in Sirik and Bandar Abbas.
Hundreds of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Tehran to bid farewell to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s late supreme leader who was killed in a joint US-Israeli attack on Feb. 28. The four-day funeral took place after the end of hostilities with the US as the two countries looked at the war until the war was delayed.
