The U.S.-Iran ceasefire is dead, President Donald Trump declared Wednesday.
At the NATO summit Turkey, just after U.S. forces completed two consecutive nights of devastating strikes against Iranian military targets, Trump declared the fragile peace agreement “over.”
U.S. forces have destroyed approximately 170 targets inside Iran.
The strikes came after Tehran attacked three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz — the Marshall Islands-flagged M/T Al Rekayyat, the Saudi-flagged M/T Wedyan, and the Liberian-flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity. U.S. authorities called it a blatant violation of the June 17 memorandum of understanding that had temporarily ended hostilities and restored shipping through the strait.
CENTCOM struck approximately 80 Iranian military targets on July 7, including more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats, air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, and anti-ship missile sites around the Strait of Hormuz.
A second wave of destructive attacks was launched Wednesday night. U.S. forces struck approximately 90 additional Iranian military targets, including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline.
For the first time since the April ceasefire, U.S. strikes also hit Iranian infrastructure — two railway bridges in northern Iran.
“U.S. forces remain vigilant, lethal, and prepared to execute operations directed by the Commander in Chief,” CENTCOM said.
Trump approved the strike plans from Turkey while attending the NATO summit and didn’t mince words when asked if the ceasefire was finished.
“For me? I think it’s over,” Trump said. “I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum.”
“They’re liars, they’re cheats. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people, and they’re vicious, violent, and if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it,” he said.
Earlier in the week, the U.S. had deliberately paused military activity to allow Iran to bury its slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose funeral was held July 6, and said that Iranian forces used that lull to launch attacks.
“We said, go and do your funeral stuff,” Trump told reporters. “And instead of that, they started shooting rockets at ships yesterday.”
“We’ll probably hit them hard again tonight,” Trump had warned Wednesday afternoon. “I’ll give them a little warning. We’re going to hit them hard tonight.”
“They hit us once, we hit them twenty-fold.”
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf fired back on social media: “America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. If you strike, you’ll get hit.”
NATO Secretary-General Rutte backed the American response, calling the U.S. strikes “absolutely necessary.”
By Wednesday night, Trump said Iran was already blinking under renewed pressure.
“They called a little while ago,” he said aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington. “They want to make a deal so badly. I just don’t know if they’re worthy of making a deal. I don’t know if they’re going to honor the deal. That’s the problem.”
The Treasury Department has revoked the temporary license that had allowed Iranian oil sales.
Trump was later asked if he would finish Iran off entirely.
“Let’s just finish the job.”
According to a release from U.S. Central Command, in the most recent wave of U.S. strikes against Iran in response to the Iranian targeting of commercial shipping, 90 military targets, including military logistics infrastructure, missile and drone storage sites, air defense… pic.twitter.com/c1sRyvbN5H
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 9, 2026