A months-long fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran has collapsed completely, after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly declared the interim agreement dead and launched a scathing personal attack on Iran’s top leadership in remarks ahead of a NATO summit in Turkey.
Speaking to reporters alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump did not mince words in his assessment of the collapsed deal, labeling Iranian leaders “scum” and “cuckoo”, and claiming the Islamic Republic’s leadership is made up of “sick, vicious, violent people”. The breakdown of the June 17 interim ceasefire agreement came after a new round of cross-border strikes that marked the most intense violence between the two nations since the deal was first signed.
The cycle of renewed hostilities began earlier this week, when three commercial oil tankers were targeted in attacks in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) responded by launching what it described as “powerful” retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets late Tuesday. By Wednesday, Iran had hit back, launching strikes against U.S. military installations stationed in Bahrain and Kuwait in a coordinated retaliatory action.
In tandem with the collapse of the ceasefire, the Trump administration announced it was reversing its temporary suspension of oil sanctions on Iranian crude exports, a key concession that had been part of the June interim agreement. That move, paired with Trump’s comments, sent global crude oil prices spiking by roughly 6% in immediate market reactions, though prices remained far below the record highs recorded when the Strait of Hormuz was fully closed to commercial traffic earlier in the conflict.
Trump said that while he would allow U.S. negotiating teams to continue talks if they chose to, he personally sees any further diplomatic engagement as a pointless exercise. “I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore,” he told reporters. “We make a deal. They go outside, talk to the press, they say ‘we never even talked about it’. There’s something wrong with them. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over. Frankly, I don’t want to waste my time with them. They’re liars.”
Iran has pushed back against U.S. claims that it violated the ceasefire, with Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accusing Washington of being the party that broke the memorandum of understanding (MoU). Ghalibaf pointed to previous U.S. strikes in southern Iran and what he called repeated violations of Iranian territorial jurisdiction in the Strait of Hormuz as proof of American bad faith. “The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold,” Ghalibaf said in a statement responding to Trump’s remarks.
This is not the first time the ceasefire has been tested since it was signed mid-June. Just one week after the deal was reached, the U.S. launched a new round of strikes after an Iranian projectile hit a commercial cargo ship transiting the strait, before both sides agreed to de-escalate by June 29.
The original June 17 MoU laid out 14 core terms, including an immediate and permanent end to all military operations across all fronts, and an Iranian commitment to use its best efforts to guarantee safe passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz free of charge for a 60-day period. Following the signing of the interim deal, both sides had been negotiating toward a permanent peace agreement, but talks were paused last week to allow for national mourning ceremonies following the death of former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
As of Wednesday, mourning processions for Khamenei were being held in Iraq, with final funeral rites and burial scheduled for Thursday in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad. It remains unclear when diplomatic talks will resume following the latest outbreak of violence, with Trump dismissing questions of a post-funeral resumption saying “I don’t care.”