Trump Agrees to Further Negotiations with Iran While Declaring Ceasefire ‘Over’

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he had agreed to further negotiations with Iran, even as he repeated his assertion that the ceasefire between the decades-old foes was over.

While there have been no direct talks between Iran and the US since last month, Iranian media reported that a delegation from mediator Qatar was in Tehran on Friday after the warring sides exchanged strikes again this week.

It is just over three weeks since Washington and Tehran signed an agreement aimed at turning a months-long ceasefire into a durable peace, but the trading of fire for a second day in a row on Thursday threatened a return to full-scale regional war.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

Earlier this week, at a NATO summit, Trump also declared the ceasefire over, but said of Tehran: “It’s just a waste of time dealing with them.”

He also called Iranian officials “scum” and “sick people”.

US and Iranian delegations have held one round of direct talks subsequent to signing their memorandum of understanding in Switzerland, as well as indirect negotiations in Qatar, but there has been no sign of diplomatic progress since.

Despite Iran saying it had launched attacks on US assets in Qatar and the Gulf state accusing Tehran of attacking one of its tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, Doha appeared on Friday to back continued diplomacy.

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Iran’s Tasnim agency meanwhile said the Qatari delegation was in Tehran to “try to reinforce Qatar’s role as a mediator following events on Tuesday”, when Doha condemned Tehran for what it called an “unacceptable assault” on one of its LNG tankers. Iran denied the accusation.

And in a call with his Qatari counterpart on Friday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called for a “return to the negotiating table”.

See the original of this report here.