ANKARA, July 8 — United States President Donald Trump today threatened to attack Iran again after saying an initial ceasefire deal with the Islamic Republic is “over”, though he has not made clear whether Washington would be returning to all-out war with Iran.
Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit here, Trump slammed Iranian officials for what he described as not sticking to the deals they negotiated and warned that the US will likely engage in additional strikes tonight after American attacks yesterday.
“I’ll give a little warning: We’re going to hit them hard tonight,” Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in Turkiye before his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
In earlier comments to reporters here, Trump said a memorandum of understanding that served as an initial ceasefire deal between the US and Iran is “over”, but he did not explicitly say Washington would return to full-fledged war or clarify if there would be further negotiations to turn the initial ceasefire deal into a permanent agreement.
His comments sent oil prices surging.
He repeated his war aim that Tehran can never have a nuclear weapon but suggested that goal may need to be achieved without a deal.
“They’ll never build a nuclear weapon under our deal, but I don’t know if we’re going to have a deal. We may just do it without a deal, because you know what, it’s easier, because these people, what, they lie and they cheat,” Trump said.
In a flare-up of hostilities that pushed oil prices up sharply, Iran said it had targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait after US forces struck Iranian targets in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
The renewed hostilities have also heightened safety and security concerns around the Strait of Hormuz, with shipping data showing at least four oil and gas tankers had turned back rather than try to transit the waterway, a vital supply route.
