President Donald Trump said an interim agreement to end the war with Iran was “over” and that the United States was likely to launch new strikes on Wednesday night following Iranian attacks on U.S. bases in the Gulf.
In a flare-up of hostilities that pushed up oil prices, Iran said on Wednesday it had targeted U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait after U.S. forces struck Iranian targets in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
The attacks further undermined a shaky ceasefire agreement and dented hopes of turning the memorandum of understanding signed on June 17 into a permanent peace deal to end the war, which began with U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28.
“If we make a deal with Iran I’m not sure that will stick,” Trump said, “because I found them to be very dishonourable people.”
But Trump did not explicitly say Washington would return to full-fledged war and it was not immediately clear whether or not the negotiations on reaching a permanent deal would continue.
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OIL PRICES RISE, STOCKS FALL
Asked before a NATO summit in Turkey whether the memorandum of understanding was over, Trump said: “It’s a very interesting question. To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them.”
“They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people,” he told reporters in Ankara.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” he said, before adding: “Now, I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it. I don’t like these people, you know that.”
A source familiar with the Ankara talks said Trump did not repeat his comments about the interim deal being over when NATO leaders met at the summit, but he later warned of new strikes before a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“I’ll give a little warning: We’re going to hit them hard tonight,” Trump told reporters.
The latest attacks have 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.
Trump has at times stepped back from threats he has made against Iran, but oil prices jumped and global bond markets tumbled. Brent crude futures leapt more than 5%, the most in a day since late May, to $78.48 a barrel .
While that was far below the peaks above $120 seen during the height of the fighting, it was enough to inject some fresh inflation risk into the bond market, particularly since months of conflict have drawn down global oil inventories.
Wall Street’s main indexes fell.
