Pres. Donald Trump (Photo: Annabelle Gordon/AFP)
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the ceasefire with Iran was “over”, with hostilities resuming after Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The strategic shipping route remains a flashpoint in the conflict, with Iran insisting on controlling the waterway. Iran wants to charge fees for passage and threatens to target ships that deviate from its authorized route.
Iran’s military has attacked at least three ships in recent days, prompting widespread US strikes against Iranian targets on Tuesday, followed by retaliatory strikes on Gulf countries by Iran.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” Trump said at a NATO summit in Turkey on Wednesday when he was asked if the ceasefire was intact. “It’s just a waste of time to deal with them”.
“I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it. I don’t like these people.”
Oil prices rose 5% after Trump’s comments.
The US and Iran both said they had struck dozens of targets, putting new pressure on an interim agreement to end the war.
Iranian state media reported on Wednesday about a wave of explosions around the strait. It was later also reported about a series of explosions in the port city of Bushehr, which houses the country’s only civilian nuclear power plant.
State media reported that a member of the army’s Revolutionary Guards had died in Iran’s southwest.
The US military’s Central Command Center (Centcom) said its forces struck more than 80 targets, including Iranian air defense systems, coastal radar sites and 60 small naval boats.
According to Iran, it attacked dozens of US military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, accused the US of “major” violations of their memorandum of agreement, including by reimposing oil sanctions and “violating Iranian adjustments in the Straits”.
The US revoked sanctions waivers on Iranian oil sales, increasing pressure on Tehran as it negotiates a final settlement to the conflict.