Trump says ceasefire is ‘over’ after US and Iran trade strikes

BBC:

US President Donald Trump says the ceasefire agreement with Iran is “over”, blasting the country’s leadership as “scum” and “cuckoo” after fresh exchanges of fire.

Speaking ahead of a Nato summit in Turkey, the president said US negotiators could continue talks “if they want” but said he saw it as “a waste of time”.

Oil prices jumped after Trump’s comments, although are still well below the highs seen during the full closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Tuesday night into Wednesday saw the worst trading of strikes between the US and Iran since they signed an interim deal in June that called for an end to the conflict and safe passage of vessels through the strait.

“I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore they’re scum … they’re led by sick people and they’re vicious, violent people,” Trump said.

“We make a deal. They [Iran] go outside, talk to the press, they say ‘we never even talked about it’. There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”

US Central Command (Centcom) said on Tuesday it had launched “powerful” strikes in response to attacks on three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

On Wednesday, Iran said it targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation to the US strikes.

The US also said it had revoked its temporary suspension of sanctions on Iranian oil sales.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused the US of breaching their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on this issue, and others, including the attacks in southern Iran and “violating Iranian adjustments in the Strait”.

“The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold,” he said.

Nato chief Mark Rutte described the American strikes as “absolutely necessary”, saying that Iran was “basically violating the ceasefire”.

It is not the first time strikes occurred after the MoU was signed on 17 June.

The US launched a series of strikes on Iran on 26 June after an Iranian projectile hit a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Further US strikes took place on 27 June, following an attack on a tanker. But later that month both sides had agreed to “stand down”.

Part of the MoU’s 14 points is for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts”.