US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Washington’s truce with Tehran was over, after tensions between the two sides escalated overnight.
At a joint press 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.
He added that the Washington delegation wanted to negotiate a peace deal, but saw it as a “waste of time to deal” with the Iranian side.
Trump’s comments come after the US and Iran accused each other of violating a ceasefire agreement reached last month, following new strikes.
The US military has carried out a “series of heavy strikes” against Iran in retaliation for three commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz that were attacked on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the US Treasury revoked the waiver that had allowed Iran to sell its oil.
Oil prices rose sharply after Trump’s speech, along with the global average Brent crude Futures for September delivery jumped 5.7% to trade at around $78.41 a barrel. In the US West Texas Intermediate futures added 5.9% to settle at $74.60 a barrel.
Oil prices
In a document published on X Tuesday, the Central Command said that the US military attacked more than 80 targets, including air defense systems, command and control networks, and anti-ship capabilities.
It added that more than 60 small boats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were struck to reduce Iran’s ability to attack international commerce.
In an earlier letter, Centcom said the strikes would “result in huge costs to target and attack commercial vessels by innocent people in international waterways.”
“The US strikes are in response to an Iranian attack on three commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian attack was unnecessary, dangerous, and in clear violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the strikes “a serious violation of the Memorandum of Understanding” Washington and Iran reached last month to end their war.
“The powerful forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as they have shown many times, will not hesitate to defend Iran’s territorial integrity, national sovereignty and national security against the violence of the American military,” the ministry said, according to the Google version.
The US and Iran traded blows last month after similar Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the strait, a key route for transporting oil and other essential goods.
The effective closure of the waterway after the outbreak of war saw oil prices rise, fueling concerns about an energy shock that could lead to higher global inflation.
