President Trump declared the U.S.-Iran ceasefire finished Wednesday at the NATO summit in Ankara, hours after U.S. Central Command hit more than 80 Iranian military targets in retaliation for Revolutionary Guards attacks on three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps replied by striking 85 U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. The exchange collapsed a truce the two governments had extended by 60 days only last month.
"For me, I think it's over," Trump told reporters in the Turkish capital, calling further talks with Tehran "a waste of time." The Treasury separately revoked Iran's general license to export oil. Brent crude jumped 5.3 percent to $78.09 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate rose 5.4 percent to $74.23. S&P 500 futures pointed to a loss of more than 1 percent.
What CENTCOM hit
Central Command said Tuesday night's strikes destroyed air defense systems, command-and-control networks and dozens of small boats operated by the Revolutionary Guards. The command said in a statement that "Iran's demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire." The strikes answered a string of Revolutionary Guards attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait over the previous two days, including a Saudi-flagged tanker and a Qatari-flagged carrier that Riyadh condemned. The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations agency logged one incident Monday and two Tuesday, one involving a drone and two involving unidentified projectiles, with no casualties reported. Iran's Revolutionary Guards had launched a drone strike on a Singapore-flagged vessel the previous week, after the two sides had suspended hostilities and opened indirect maritime-security talks.
Tehran's reply
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then attacked 85 U.S. military positions in Bahrain and Kuwait, Al Jazeera reported. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran would "take decisive actions to safeguard its national interest and security." The volley was the sharpest confrontation since Washington and Tehran signed the April ceasefire, which the two sides extended in June through a memorandum of understanding on maritime security. A U.S. official, describing the Strait attacks as "wholly unacceptable," said "Iran will only reap benefits if they exhibit good behavior."
Markets recoil
Oil posted its biggest one-day gain since early June, and equity futures dropped across the board. Dow futures slid more than 710 points, Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.5 percent, and Russell 2000 small-cap futures dropped 1.6 percent. Airlines led premarket decliners: Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines each fell 3 percent, and United Airlines dropped 3.5 percent. Cruise operators Carnival and Royal Caribbean lost about 4 percent apiece. The moves reversed a stretch of relative calm in oil and equities that had held since the mid-June memorandum. Daniela Hathorn, an analyst at Capital.com, said the strikes "have lifted oil prices, weighed on equity markets and reminded investors that while a ceasefire remains in place, a lasting agreement between the US and Iran is far from guaranteed."
Trump's language
Trump called Iran's leadership "sick" and said Iranian officials had put him on assassination lists. "I've been number one on their list for years," he said, adding that "so far I guess I've been a little bit lucky." He called Iran's leaders "scum" and asserted that "if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it." Al Jazeera correspondent James Bays said the remarks marked a departure from Trump's recent, more measured tone on Tehran, and questioned whether Wednesday's statements amounted to a formal policy shift or tactical pressure on the memorandum. Trump said he would "let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want," then added, "I don't see it."
The caveat
Iran's own account of the exchange was limited in Wednesday's reporting to Gharibabadi's brief statement, and no independent assessment of damage from the U.S. strikes or of casualties at the 85 U.S. sites Tehran said it hit had been released by press time. All body-tier accounts underlying this report carry a lean-left orientation, and no center-wire or lean-right coverage was available to cross-check figures. Legally, the April memorandum of understanding is still in force: no side has issued formal notice terminating it, and Trump himself left indirect negotiations technically open.
Next
Indirect U.S.-Iran talks in Doha, paused since July 4 for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral rites, are scheduled to resume Thursday.