The ceasefire between the United States and Iran is “over”, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (July 8, 2026), while leaving the door open for more talks, after the two sides exchanged fire amid a dispute over the status of the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran said U.S. “violations” have rendered parts of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two countries “ineffective”.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” Mr. Trump said at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, when asked about the ceasefire. “It’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” he added. “I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it. I don’t like these people.” He added that the U.S. would hit Iran again on Wednesday night.
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His remarks came after Iran claimed that it targeted 85 American military assets in the Persian Gulf following U.S. air strikes on “several monitoring and surveillance centres” on Iran’s southern coast. This is the second time the U.S. and Iran have exchanged fire since they signed an MoU on June 17, promising to extend the ceasefire and begin talks for a final settlement.
At the core of the escalation lies the question of who controls the Strait of Hormuz. The MoU calls for the safe passage of tankers through the strait. Iran has opened a route along its coast and asked vessels to use this “designated route” in coordination with local authorities. Over the weekend, three ships passing through an alternative route along the Omani coast — Marshall Islands-flagged M/T Al Rekayyat, Saudi Arabia-flagged M/T Wedyan, and Liberian-flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity — were attacked.
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Following the incident, the U.S. revoked a sanctions waiver it had issued after the MoU was signed that had allowed the sale of Iranian oil. The air strikes followed.
“U.S. Central Command forces completed a new round of offensive strikes against Iran, July 7, hitting over 80 targets with precision munitions as an immediate response to Iran’s latest attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.” U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
“U.S. forces struck Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] small boats in and near the strait to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor,” it said.
In retaliation, Iran’s IRGC said it had struck “85 U.S. military targets in Bahrain and Kuwait with missiles and drones”. Port Salman, the U.S. Fifth Fleet’s area in Bahrain, and Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait were among the sites targeted, according to an IRGC statement. The Guards also claimed to have downed an American MQ-9 drone over the southern province of Bushehr.
In Ankara, Mr. Trump said U.S. forces would strike Iran “hard” on Wednesday night. “We’re gonna hit ‘em hard tonight,” he said, adding: “They violate the agreement every day.”
Iran said the U.S. strikes were aimed at overshadowing the massive funeral processions in Iran and Iraq for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s leader who was assassinated by U.S. and Israeli forces on February 28, the first day of the war.
After Mr. Trump’s assertion that “the ceasefire is over”, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that the U.S. strikes constituted a “flagrant violation” of the MoU.
“The repetition of illegal attacks against Iran, alongside last night’s decision by the U.S. Treasury to revoke the license for Iran’s oil sales..., the violation of Iranian arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the continuation of the Zionist regime’s military aggressions against Lebanon, have rendered important and fundamental parts of the MoU ineffective,” it said in a statement.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf listed out what he called U.S. violations of the MoU in a social media post. “Violating Iranian adjustments in the Strait; Persistent threats of further strikes; Reinstating oil sanctions; Attacks on southern Iran; Continued Zionist aggression on Lebanon... The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold,” he wrote.
Published - July 08, 2026 02:45 pm IST