US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the memorandum of understanding signed with Iran to end the conflict was “over”, adding he didn’t want to engage with Iran.
The interim ceasefire agreement signed between the US and iran in Pakistan was intended to provide a 60-day window for negotiations on a permanent agreement, but indirect talks in Qatar ended last week with no sign of headway.
“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them,” Trump said ahead of a NATO summit in the Turkish capital Ankara.
“They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people,” he added alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them.”
Consequently, the US military unleashed a new wave of strikes against Iran on Tuesday hitting the city of Bandar Abbas overnight.
This comes after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announces it targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait as well as three oil tankers transiting the strait of Hormuz.
The US in response also revoked a license allowing Iran to sell oil. Under the interim US-Iran agreement, the US Treasury issued a June 22 general license to allow the sale of crude oil and petrochemical and petroleum products of Iranian origin through Aug. 21. In revoking that license on Tuesday, it gave Iran until July 17 to wind down any transactions.
