US President Donald Trump indicated that Washington could launch another round of strikes against Iran as early as Wednesday night, hours after declaring the ceasefire deal with Tehran was effectively over. Speaking at the 2026 NATO Summit in Ankara, Trump said the US had already hit Iran "very hard" and warned of further attacks.
Trump's Remarks on Further Strikes
"We hit them very hard last night, and very probably hit them hard again tonight," Trump said ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He accused Iranian leaders of being inconsistent in negotiations, calling them "cuckoo" and claiming they agree on terms only to publicly deny them later.
"They'll agree on everything, and then they'll go and have a news conference and say we never even talked about it," Trump said. "They're cuckoo; there's something wrong with these people."
When asked about the timing of potential strikes, Trump said, "Normally ... I wouldn't tell you, but you know what, there's not a thing they can do about it. So the answer is 'probably'."
Ceasefire Declared Over
Earlier, Trump announced that the ceasefire agreement with Iran had concluded for him. "To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum... They're led by sick people," he said. He added that while US negotiators wanted to continue talks, he considered further diplomacy a "waste of time."
The remarks came after US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that American forces struck more than 80 Iranian sites on Tuesday in retaliation for Tehran's attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes targeted air defence systems, command and control networks, coastal radar installations, anti-ship missile capabilities, and over 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) small boats.
Iranian Response and Violations
Iran's top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf retaliated by listing multiple US violations of the 14-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two countries. These included "violating Iranian adjustments in the Strait," "persistent threats of further strikes," "reinstating oil sanctions," "attacks on southern Iran," and "continued Zionist aggression" in Lebanon.
"The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere," Ghalibaf wrote on X. "We don't fold."
In response to the US strikes, Iran launched drone and missile attacks against US-linked military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. According to Iran's state-affiliated Fars News Agency, Iranian army drones targeted the Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain early Wednesday. The IRGC stated it carried out a joint operation targeting 85 key US military facilities in Salman Port, the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
NATO Support for US Strikes
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte defended the US strikes, calling them "absolutely necessary" after Iran attacked three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. "I think it was absolutely necessary because when you have a ceasefire, Iran is basically violating the ceasefire. We've seen what happened yesterday with ships being attacked. I think it is totally crucial that the US forcefully react," Rutte said at the NATO Summit in Ankara.
The US strikes targeted the Marshall Islands-flagged M/T Al Rekayyat, the Saudi Arabia-flagged M/T Wedyan, and the Liberian-flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity. CENTCOM said the Iranian aggression was a "clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation."
