President Donald Trump said Wednesday he may no longer be interested in even trying to reach a deal with Iran, hours after declaring their recent ceasefire agreement “over” in light of renewed hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz.
“I’m not sure I want to make a deal with them,” Trump said of Tehran during a press conference in Ankara, Turkey, where he had traveled to attend a summit of the NATO military alliance.
“We can play games, but I’m not sure I want to make a deal,” Trump said, adding, “Let’s just finish the job.”
The president had been asked why he has so rapidly soured on Iran’s rulers — recently blasting them as “scum” and “sick people” — when just a month earlier he had praised them as “smart,” “very rational” and “nice to deal with.”
“I got to know ’em,” Trump replied.
He added that he still believed them to be more rational than previous leaders whom the U.S. had killed earlier in the war that began Feb. 28.
“But based on their actions over the last week or two, they’re not, they’re not doing a service to the people, and I think more than anything else is, I got to know them,” he said.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump said that the U.S. ceasefire with Iran is “over” following the latest outbreak of violence in the Middle East.
Tehran on Tuesday attacked three commercial vessels in or near the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. Central Command and the Joint Maritime Information Center, a U.S.-led naval group.
Following those attacks, the U.S. revoked its waiver of sanctions on Iranian oil sales, which was part of the temporary ceasefire deal that the two countries struck last month.
Then, the U.S. said it launched dozens of retaliatory strikes on Iranian military infrastructure and small boats.
The strait, a major throughway for the world’s oil trade, has been the main flashpoint for tensions during the war. Iran’s ability to block the waterway, and its intent to start charging tolls on ships that want to pass through it, has given it immense leverage to resist the larger U.S. military. Trump retaliated by ordering a naval blockade of Iranian ports in the area.
As part of the deal, the U.S. agreed to lift its blockade and Iran agreed to make its “best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels” in the Gulf region.
Esmaeil Baqaei, Iran’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman, in an X post Wednesday afternoon accused the U.S. of violating that clause of the deal, claiming it “emphasizes” that Iran is responsible for “determining arrangements” for ships transiting the strait.
The U.S. “has challenged this clause and, in practice, violated the agreement’s structure through its unilateral actions and also aggressive attacks against Iran,” Baqaei wrote. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will steadfastly pursue the protection of its national interests and the exercise of its sovereignty.”
Trump on Wednesday said of Iran, “I don’t want to deal with them anymore.” Trying to deal with the Islamic republic was a “waste of time,” he added.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” Trump said of the ceasefire.
He later vowed that the U.S. would take more military action “tonight.” But he later hedged his threat, saying at the press conference that he “might” order those attacks.
