President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday the US could hit Iran again in the coming hours, after he claimed an agreement to end the regional conflict was “over”.
“We are probably going to hit them hard again tonight,” he told reporters during the Nato summit in Turkey. “They are cuckoo. There is something wrong with these people.”
Iran, in turn, threatened to strike "enemy" targets at a ratio of at least two to one and close the Strait of Hormuz in response to any future attack, according to a security source quoted by state broadcaster Press TV.
Mr Trump's comments came hours after the US military launched strikes on Iran in response to attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday that Washington blamed on Tehran. Air-raid sirens blared in Bahrain and Kuwait as Iran retaliated.
The strikes sparked fears the ceasefire could collapse. Pakistan, which helped to negotiate the initial deal, said a renewed conflict was "in no-one's interest".
“To me, I think it's over,” Mr Trump said of the ceasefire, speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Nato summit. “I don't want to deal with them any more. They're scum … they're led by sick people.
“I'll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate, they're good people … but they have to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them."
Mr Trump later played down the prospect of the war resuming. "I don't think it is going to start again. I think it's going to go very quickly," he said at a press conference.
The exchange of attacks is the second since the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17 to pause hostilities for 60 days while they negotiated a deal to end the Iran war. The agreement included a waiver of US sanctions on Iranian oil exports and the free passage of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships since the war began with US and Israeli strikes on February 28.
US Central Command said more than 60 small boats belonging to the IRGC were among the targets hit in its latest attacks, which were intended to impose a heavy cost on the Iranian leadership. Iran said eight of its soldiers were killed in the US strikes.
“The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation,” Centcom said.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had attacked US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait, and shot down a US MQ-9 drone attempting to interfere in the operation.
The Kuwaiti Defence Ministry said its armed forces detected two ballistic missiles and 13 drones that entered its national airspace, all of which were “successfully intercepted and dealt with, resulting in no material damage or casualties”.
The US also revoked a licence allowing Iran to sell oil in response to the attacks on three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said the US attacks were “absolutely necessary”.
“When you have a ceasefire and Iran is basically violating the ceasefire, I think it is totally crucial that the US forcefully react,” he said at the Nato summit in Ankara.
Iran said the US strikes targeted monitoring and surveillance sites on its southern coast and called them a violation of international law and the agreement made on June 17.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said the US attacks breached Article 1 of the agreement, which called for an end to military operations.
The ministry said Washington was undermining the deal by revoking the licence for Iranian oil sales, interfering with Iran's arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz and failing to prevent what it described as continued Israeli military actions in Lebanon.
Iran's joint military command, the Khatam Al Anbiya Central Headquarters, threatened a “crushing response” to the attacks and warned that Tehran would not allow US interference in management of the strait.
“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Iran's top negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said in a post on X. “We don't fold.”
Iranian media reported explosions at Iran's main oil hub on Kharg Island, on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, and in the southern port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas.
Centcom made no mention of attacks on Kharg Island, from which Iran exports 90 per cent of its crude oil.
Mr Trump also claimed Tehran was seeking to target him and described the country as “the number-one state sponsor of terror,” while accusing Nato allies of failing to support Washington's efforts against Tehran.
“We took out their first set of leaders, we took out their second set of leaders,” he said. “They want to take out the US leader, me. I'm on every list.
“They're cancer. You know what you do? You got to cut out cancer early. And that's the way I feel.”
The US President criticised Nato members for what he said was a lack of support in confronting Iran, although he acknowledged he had not raised the issue with Mr Rutte.
“I spoke to Germany, France, the UK and Italy,” Mr Trump said. “They were unwilling to help us but we didn't need help.”
