US Cancels Iran Talks as Memorandum of Understanding Collapses

The memorandum of understanding intended to end America’s war with Iran is now, in President Donald Trump’s own words, “over.”

Why it matters The speed of the unravelling is the story. A ceasefire built to buy 60 days of diplomacy didn't survive even for three weeks. The reason isn't a single rogue strike: It's that the memorandum never resolved the disputes that started the war in the first place. Without an outside body to verify who did what, both Washington and Tehran are left to police a deal they wrote for themselves, at a moment when Trump is also facing record-low approval ratings tied to the war's economic toll ahead of November's midterms.

What Trump said: 'I think it's over' Standing next to Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump delivered his verdict on the deal he once championed: "For me, I think it's over," he said, adding: "As far as I'm concerned it's just a waste of time."

"It's a waste of time dealing with them," Trump told reporters in Ankara. His language about Iran itself has hardened well past diplomatic norms. He called the country's leadership "evil, sick people," and reached for a metaphor he's used before to describe adversaries: "We have to rid their cancer, their cancer. And you know what you do? You've got to cut out cancer early. And that's the way I feel," Trump added.

Asked about ongoing contact with Tehran, Trump didn't hold back: "I don't want to deal with them, but they're scum. You know what scum is? They're scum. They're sick people, they're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent people, and if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it."

He also dismissed Iran's negotiators as erratic: "There's something wrong with them, they're cukoo. They can talk, but I think they're wasting their time."

Catch up quick The US and Iran signed their memorandum of understanding on June 17, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and setting a 60-day clock for a permanent settlement, Bloomberg reported. The deal's scope was narrow: Iran would stop targeting shipping in the strait, and the US would let Tehran sell oil and repatriate the revenue. It left the harder questions — tolls on Hormuz traffic, unfreezing billions in Iranian assets, and the fate of Iran's nuclear program — for later negotiation. Those later talks barely started. People close to the negotiations told the WSJ there had been no substantive movement toward a final nuclear agreement even before this week, with technical discussions "barely commencing."

The Trump administration tried opening a military back channel with the Revolutionary Guard Corps, but the Guard was slow to engage, US officials told the Journal. Talks had already broken down and resumed once before this week, after an earlier round of strikes; they froze again as Iran entered a weeklong mourning period for Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader killed in the war's opening day in late February. Three commercial ships were struck in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, an attack Washington blames on Tehran. US Central Command, known as CENTCOM, said Tuesday's strikes alone hit more than 80 targets — air-defense systems, command-and-control networks, antiship missile sites and over 60 small boats — a barrage four to five times larger than any round launched since the truce began, a senior US official told the Journal.

Iran hit back. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired drones and missiles at Bahrain and Kuwait, both hosts to American bases. Sirens went off across both Gulf states, and Kuwait said on social media its air defenses were engaging what it called hostile missile and drone attacks. Iran's top joint military command warned that Tehran considers any location used to support US military attacks on Iran a "legitimate target."

Between the lines This isn't really about one bad week. It's about how much the June 17 MOU left unresolved from the start.

Who actually controls Hormuz? Iran has repeatedly said it won't let ships transit without its permission: A position it never abandoned even while signing on to reopen the strait. The US, meanwhile, has been routing commercial traffic through a corridor near Oman's coast that the IRGC has explicitly threatened to target.

How much military capacity has Iran rebuilt? A US official told Bloomberg that since the ceasefire, Iran has dug up or repaired hundreds of missiles and launchers damaged or buried during the initial war — enough that Tehran now has access to more than half its pre-conflict missile inventory.

Is there a working back-channel at all? US officials told the Journal they've tried to set up direct contact with the IRGC specifically, given how much power the Guard Corps wields inside Iran's system, but the IRGC has been slow to engage.

The funeral factor Layered on top of all this is Iran's elaborate, multi-day send-off for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The mourning procession that Iranian authorities claim drew roughly 11 million people is being used to project unity as much as grief. As per the WSJ, the politics inside the ceremony were pointed. Foreign delegations were greeted with specific, carefully chosen Quranic verses — solidarity messages for Hezbollah and Hamas, a pointed reference to a historic battle for Saudi Arabia's delegation, and something close to a rebuke for Turkey over its wartime neutrality. Sanam Vakil of Chatham House told the Journal the choice of verses functioned as deliberate signaling: Reassurance for Iran's allies, warnings for its regional rivals. Crowds carried banners threatening Trump directly, and some pelted his image with stones. Analyst Sina Toossi of the Center for International Policy read the spectacle as a message aimed squarely at Washington: Iran isn't backing down, whatever the negotiating table looks like.

Notably absent: Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader's son and appointed successor, who has yet to appear in public since taking the position in March. His absence is fuelling questions about how firm his grip on power actually is.

The bottom line The US President has a domestic clock working against him. Midterms are in November, his approval ratings are sitting near record lows, and voters are irritated about gas prices and the broader cost of the conflict. He's banked his political messaging on the idea that ending the war brings fast relief at the pump. The prospect of a full return to hostilities cuts directly against that bet. Meanwhile, Iran’s new rulers are trying to show that the Islamic Republic remains unbroken. The US is trying to show that any attack on shipping will carry immediate costs. Gulf states are trying to avoid becoming permanent launchpads and targets.

Designed to fail? The deeper danger is the absence of a referee. The UN is sidelined. The IAEA can warn, report and inspect only where it has access. Nato can confer but not command US policy. Gulf mediators can host talks but not impose terms. China buys oil, Europe urges restraint, Russia watches for advantage. Both Washington and Tehran are free to define "ceasefire violation" however serves them politically. It’s the ambiguity, more than any single strike, is what's dragging the region back toward open war. The immediate danger is a cycle that becomes self-sustaining. Iran can strike ships or bases to show it still has reach. The US can hit coastal defenses, boats and launch sites to show it still controls escalation. Oil markets can spike. Gulf states can tighten defenses. Talks can be delayed again. No one can make the ceasefire real if Washington and Tehran both find more value in testing it.