Trump says Iran ceasefire is ‘over,’ military launches new strikes against Iran

President Donald Trump said early July 8 that the U.S.-Iran interim agreement was effectively over after a renewed exchange of strikes overnight. Hours later, the U.S. military announced it launched another round of strikes against Iran.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X that the strikes, ordered by Trump, were intended to “further degrade [Iran’s] ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz” after Iranian forces attacked three commercial oil tankers the day before.

On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, earlier July 8, Trump told reporters, “To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum.”

Trump said he would let U.S. negotiators “keep talking if they want” but called continued talks a “waste of time.” He also signaled the possibility of additional U.S. military action, saying the U.S. would “probably hit [Iran] hard again tonight.”

Asked by a reporter whether he planned to fully renew war with Iran, Trump said no and said he expected the conflict to be over “quickly.”

His comments came hours after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced in a July 7 X post that the military had carried out strikes on more than 80 Iranian targets after Tehran attacked commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. According to CENTCOM, the strikes hit Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 of Iran’s small boats in and near the strait.

CENTCOM said it was “postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable when the agreement is not adhered to or obeyed” and, in a separate post, called the Iranian attacks “unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”

Vice President JD Vance told reporters at a July 8 event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that the Trump administration’s agreement with Iran was “very simple: if they shoot at ships, we’re going to knock the hell out of them.”

“They can either follow it, or they can have exactly what happened to them last night,” he added. “It’s just going to keep on happening until they open up that lane and stop shooting at ships.”

Trump also accused Iran’s regime of violently suppressing internal dissent, saying Iranians cannot rise up against their leaders because the government has killed “54,000 people as of now that were protesting.” 

“When people say ‘How come they haven’t taken over?’ They can’t take over because they’re dead,” he said. “Nobody’s going to take over. They have no guns, and the other side has machine guns.”

The Trump administration also revoked a sanctions waiver July 7 that had authorized the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian oil and petrochemicals. The U.S. Treasury Department notice said the authorization must wind down by July 17.

Following the U.S. retaliatory strikes, Iranian Parliament Speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf accused Washington of violating the agreement by threatening additional strikes, reinstating oil sanctions, attacking southern Iran, and allowing “continued Zionist aggression” in Lebanon.

“The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere,” Qalibaf wrote on X. “We don’t fold.”