Trump: US ceasefire and peace process with Iran is likely dead

ANKARA, Turkey — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. ceasefire and peace process with Iran is likely dead after the Pentagon launched major retaliatory strikes overnight.

When asked if the ceasefire was done and the initial peace agreement was dead, Trump said that “to me, I think it's over.”

The president's comments, speaking alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the alliance summit in Ankara, came just hours after U.S. forces struck Iranian military sites overnight in retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The shaky ceasefire had seen multiple flareups of fighting, so far relatively limited in scope as both sides said they wanted to keep the larger ceasefire in place.

Trump said Wednesday he would allow his negotiators, led by Vice President J.D. Vance, to keep talking with Iranian representatives. But he hinted that dealing with Iran was simply a “waste of time.”

The U.S. president expressed anger that the administration had allowed the funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to proceed peacefully while the Iranian military was simultaneously attacking commercial vessels.

“They're liars,” Trump said. “We make a deal, they go outside, talk to the press, they say we never even talked about it. There’s something wrong with them. They're cuckoo."

"They're scum, they're sick people, they're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent people," Trump said.

Standing alongside Trump, Rutte backed up the American action in Iran. “I think what you did last night was absolutely necessary. It was a very strong response,” Rutte said.

Trump has long criticized NATO allies for not assisting in the war effort, a stance Rutte has pushed back on, reminding Trump that U.S. warplanes and aerial tankers flew 5,000 missions from European airbases during the height of the fighting. Rutte described choices by NATO member countries, like Italy and Spain, not to let the U.S. use their bases for Iran war operations as "isolated cases.”