US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire agreement with Iran is “over,” while delivering a sharp rebuke of Tehran’s leadership on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara.
“It’s a very interesting question to me. I think it’s over,” Trump said on Wednesday when asked whether the memorandum of understanding with Iran was dead. “I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum.”
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
Trump launched a wide-ranging attack on Iran’s leaders, calling them “liars,” “cheats,” and “evil, sick people.”
“I think the Iranians are incompetent. If they were competent, they would have made a deal 47 years ago,” Trump said. “But these are evil, sick people, and we have to rid their cancer. That cancer. And you know what you do? You got to cut out cancer early.”
He accused Iran of killing 54,000 people during protests, saying this explains why the regime has not been overthrown.
“They killed them. Nobody’s going to take over – they have no guns, and the other side has machine guns. And then they’re killing them. The press doesn’t report it,” Trump said.
A regime change in Tehran was stated as a war objective when the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February, following months of protests inside Iran. Trump later argued in March that the goal had been achieved despite the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, being succeeded by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, after a decapitation strike.
Ukraine Expands Drone Deal Network With Three More European Partners
Mojtaba Khamenei’s first public message after the succession was a threat of a wider war with the US.
Trump accuses Iran of reneging on nuclear deal
Trump also accused Iranian leaders of lying about nuclear negotiations.
“We make a deal. Everyone’s agreed. No nuclear weapon. We make a deal. They go outside, talk to the press, they say we never even talked about it,” Trump said. “There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo.”
Despite declaring the ceasefire over, Trump suggested negotiations could continue without his direct participation.
“I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it,” he said.
Trump also referenced Iranian threats against him personally: “I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn’t last very long.”
The remarks came after an exchange of strikes between the US and Iran in recent days, ending a ceasefire that had been in place since April.
Oil prices have jumped by over 6 percent hours after Trump’s remarks, according to Reuters, as the renewed fighting once again induces fears over oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil shipments that has been subject to an Iranian blockade since the Iran war started.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
CARTOON: Scrabbling for Peace or Playing Mind Games?
