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US President Donald Trump said the interim deal to end the war with Iran was “finished” on Wednesday after Tehran attacked US bases in the Gulf.
In a flare-up of tensions that have pushed oil prices to a two-week high, Iran said it was targeting US military bases in Bahrain and Kuwait after the US military launched an attack on Iranian tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
The attack also undermined efforts to turn a mutual agreement reached last month into a lasting peace agreement to end the war, which began with US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran in Feb. 28.
“I think it’s over,” Trump said Wednesday of the interim deal between Tehran and Washington, speaking to reporters at a NATO summit in Turkey.
“I don’t want to deal with them,” he said of Iran’s leadership. “They’re cowards. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people … it’s just a waste of time to deal with them.”
It was the latest shift in tone from Trump, who said last month that Iran’s new leaders are “much younger” than they were before the war, and that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has a “very good reputation” in “some circles.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard previously said it had carried out a combination of missiles and drones against key US military bases in Bandar Salman, Bahrain’s Fifth Naval District and the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and shot down a US MQ-9 aircraft trying to disrupt the operation.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait, and the Kuwaiti military said its air defenses were facing “hostile” missile and drone attacks. There was no immediate comment on the US military strikes.
Meanwhile the US launched a wave of military strikes against Iran on Wednesday in response to an attack on tanks in the Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command said more than 60 small Revolutionary Guard boats were among the targets during the operation, which was aimed at imposing a heavy cost on Iran through strikes on shipping that violates the ceasefire.
“The unauthorized violence by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of movement,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
At least four oil and gas tankers have returned from trying to pass through the strait, ship tracking data showed, as renewed attacks on ships in the key waterway raised security and safety concerns.
The diversion comes after a Qatari natural gas tanker capsized and a Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker was damaged near the strait on Tuesday.
Oil prices jumped and global bond markets fell amid recent developments. Brent crude futures jumped more than 5 percent, the most in a day since late May, to $78.48 US a barrel.
US attack ‘necessary,’ says Rutte
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters before the summit that a new US attack on Iran was “absolutely necessary.”
“If you end the war and Iran violates the ceasefire, I think it’s very important that the US react forcefully,” he said.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait “unacceptable.”
The main military command in Iran, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, condemned the US strikes as “a clear act of aggression,” threatened a “brutal response,” and warned that Tehran will not allow US interference in controlling the ship.
As the US and Israel-Iran war escalated, Captain Raman Kapoor was stranded for more than two months on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf with 23 sailors begging to return home.
Iran’s chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, accused the US of violating the ceasefire agreement. He not only mentioned the recent US military strikes, but renewed the oil embargo, the violation of the Iranian “fix” in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Israeli attack against Lebanon.
“The era of bullying and fraud is over,” said Qalibaf on the X site. “We are not giving up.”
Iranian media previously reported explosions at Iran’s oil fields on Kharg Island, Qeshm Island and the southern port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas.
Iran’s Press TV reported that several explosions were heard south of Kharg Island. CENTCOM did not mention Kharg Island, where Iran exports 90 percent of its crude oil.
No casualties were reported in Iran, but several people were injured by explosives from an “enemy project” that hit a shopping center in Sirik, according to an Iranian state TV reporter. Reports say that strikes have also hit fishing grounds in Sirik and Bandar Abbas.
Hundreds of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Tehran to bid farewell to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s late supreme leader who was killed in a joint US-Israeli attack on Feb. 28. The four-day funeral took place after the end of hostilities with the US as the two countries looked at the war until the war was delayed.
