The ceasefire lasted less than a month.
President Donald Trump declared the US-Iran agreement “over” on July 8 during the NATO summit in Ankara. Hours later, the US military carried out a second wave of strikes against Iranian positions, larger than the first.
“I believe the 60-day ceasefire with Iran is ‘over,'” Trump told reporters. “They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people. They’re vicious, violent people, and if they had a nuclear weapon they’d use it.”
He added: “We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job.”
The declaration came after Iranian forces struck three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz over the previous two days. The targets included a Qatari LNG tanker, the Al Rekayyat, which was hit by a drone near the Musandam Peninsula. The crew abandoned ship after a fire broke out in the port-side engine room. A Saudi-flagged crude supertanker and a third unnamed vessel were also hit.
The US responded on July 7 with what CENTCOM called “powerful strikes” against more than 80 targets: air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile positions, and over 60 IRGC small boats. Iranian state media reported 13 explosions in southern Iran, including on Qeshm Island and near Bandar Abbas.
The next day, the second wave hit Bandar Abbas naval base and Shahid Haqqani Port, where fires were observed. A US official told Axios that the July 8 strikes were “four or five times bigger in scope” than those 10 days earlier.
Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones at the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. Kuwait confirmed intercepting hostile ballistic missiles and drones. Bahrain reported damage to a residential building. Iran claimed 85 US military installations were targeted.
“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” tweeted Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. “We don’t fold.”
The ceasefire that was not
The memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June had set a 60-day window for negotiations on sanctions relief, Iran’s nuclear program, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The deal was fragile from the start.
The US Treasury has now revoked the sanctions waiver that allowed Iranian oil sales under the MOU. Trump suggested his negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, could report back to him, but made clear he saw little point in continuing.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” he said.
The escalation has immediate consequences for global energy markets. Brent crude had already surged from $60 a barrel in January to a peak above $118 in April during the first phase of the conflict. The Strait of Hormuz carries about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. The Joint Maritime Information Center raised the threat level to “severe” after three tankers were struck in a single day.
The question now is whether this becomes a sustained campaign. Trump’s language, “finish the job”, suggests he may be prepared to escalate further. Iran has shown it will respond in kind, targeting US bases in neighboring countries rather than limiting itself to the strait.
The Gulf states, which provided the staging grounds for US operations and absorbed the Iranian retaliation, are once again caught in the middle of a war they have no power to stop.