President Trump says ceasefire with Iran is ‘over’ after strikes
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What did President Trump mean when he said the ceasefire with Iran is 'over'?
Next, though, as you've just heard, US President Donald Trump has told reporters in Ankara that his country's ceasefire with Iran is over. Trump made the comments at the NATO summit this morning following a night of fire being traded between Iran and the US. US Central Command says the renewed attacks come in response to Iran targeting and attacking commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded, hitting US military bases in neighbouring Bahrain and Kuwait. So what does this mean for the Memorandum of Understanding signed just last month and for the ongoing talks between the two nations? For the latest on this story, I'm joined by Middle East correspondent with The Economist, Greg. Excuse me, Greg Carlson.
Morning, Greg.
What happened during the exchange of fire between the US and Iran at the NATO summit?
Good morning to you.
Thanks a million for joining us. Pretty strong comments there from Donald Trump.
They are pretty strong. It all sounds quite dramatic. The Iranians are cuckoo. The ceasefire is over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. But I would point to a few things that may make this less dramatic than it sounds. The first is that we've seen these sorts of exchanges of fire several times since the ceasefire took effect. attack strikes. The second is that Trump did say he would allow his negotiators to continue talking with Iran. He said he didn't think it was worthwhile, but he's going to allow it to continue so the talks don't seem to be dead. And then the third thing, of course, it's Donald Trump. So it's entirely possible that tomorrow he says the Iranians are wonderful people and we're about to strike an amazing deal and he reverses himself completely.
OK, well, yes, indeed, we should always treat those comments with a certain amount of caution. Just tell us about the exchange of fire last night. I mean, the US was claiming that Iran targeted commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and that's what prompted the attacks. What do we know about all of this?
Right. So this started early on Tuesday morning. The Iranians attacked several tankers that were trying to exit the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. One was contracted by Qatar's National Gas Company. Another was a Saudi tanker carrying Saudi oil. They came under drone attack. The Americans then struck what they said were more than 80 targets in Iran last night, military targets along the coast, radars, missile batteries, things like that in southern Iran near the Persian Gulf. And then the Iranians fired drones at American bases in both Bahrain and Kuwait. And again, this is what both sides have been doing for weeks. I think the Iranians have decided Bahrain and Kuwait are the soft underbelly of the Gulf.
And so they are the punching bag whenever they want to lash out. And the targets that the U.S. struck, it's been bombing similar areas in Iran, not just during the war, but during the ceasefire as well.
OK. I don't know whether this is related or not, but the US withdrew a key part of the ceasefire deal, which was allowing Iran to sell oil on international markets. So was that significant in terms of annoying the Iranians, shall we say?
that is it's it's more significant i think uh than these back and forth military strikes as you say that was a key element of the deal iran has been under american sanctions for many many years that sell oil on the black market to China, but it does so at a discount compared to global market prices, and it often has trouble repatriating the proceeds of those sales, bringing that money back to Iran. So this waiver would have alleviated for the Iranians. They were in talks with refiners in India and other countries in Asia about selling oil to new markets and doing so at market prices, which would have been a windfall for them. So losing that, even if it's temporary, even if this waiver is reinstated at some point, it's going to add to the uncertainty for refiners in these other countries.
They might be cautious now about doing business to Iran. So there's likely to be a serious impact on Iran's economy from this.
OK, now, as you say, President Trump said that his negotiators could continue their talks, indirect, I think, talks with Iran.
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