Trump: Iran MOU is over, ‘we’ll hit them hard again tonight,’ but talks can continue

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday fumed at Iran following renewed military hostilities overnight, saying he thought the US-Iran memorandum of understanding “is over,” calling Tehran’s leadership “scum” and adding: “We’re going to hit them hard tonight.”

The US leader’s statements came while taking questions from reporters at a summit of NATO leaders in Ankara, and followed overnight US strikes on the country in response to Tehran’s attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran later retaliated to the US strikes, launching missiles and drones at the US’s Gulf allies Bahrain and Kuwait, the latter of which said it intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones.

“To me, I think it’s over,” Trump said of the truce agreement.

“I don’t want to deal with them. They’re scum,” the president said of the Iranians. “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. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”

He went on: “There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over… Everything I did, I was successful, and I deal with these guys and I say, ‘This is from a different school.’ They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people. Frankly I don’t want to waste my time with them. Now, I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it. I don’t like these people.”

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The US leader said American forces had hit Iran “very hard last night” and “we’ll probably hit them hard again tonight. I’ll give him a little warning. We’re going to hit [them] hard tonight, but we’ll see how it all works out.”

WATCH: President Trump on the MOU with Iran:

“They are scum… as far as im concerned it’s over” pic.twitter.com/YTsBLSdiZQ

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 8, 2026

Attacks have repeatedly threatened the shaky ceasefire, but Trump’s comments added new uncertainty, and oil prices shot up after he spoke. A renewed conflict could engulf the wider Middle East and would likely again halt energy shipments through the strait that are crucial to the global economy.

Elaborating further at a later press conference, Trump said he may reinstate the American blockade of Iranian ports, in what would mark a further collapse of the MOU: “They may put down the blockade. We may put it back… It’ll only be a blockade for Iran. Anybody else can have whatever they want,” he said, before acknowledging that Iran may respond by dropping mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

As part of the MOU, the US agreed to lift the blockade that it put in place on Iran’s ports during the war, in response to Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Asked again about his plans to strike Iran again Wednesday night, Trump replied: “There’s not a thing they can do about it.”

He again claimed that the US was holding off on attacking civilian infrastructure sites in Iran, but said he could authorize their targeting as well, and said that the US had targeted Kharg Island, Iran’s oil hub, in Tuesday night’s attack, but refrained from bombing the oil infrastructure there. That claim was not immediately verified.

“Maybe we’ll take over Kharg Island,” he wondered aloud. “There may be a big attack, and it’ll knock out a lot of stuff.”

Gesturing towards Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump asked him to detail what was hit in the overnight US attack on Iran, to which Hegseth responded that targets included the boats Iran was using to harass vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, underground missile and drone storage sites and radar systems. He made no mention of Kharg Island.

“If we need to, on your order, Mr. President, we will hit even more, and even deeper,” Hegseth further said.

Despite threats, Trump says talks can continue

Trump said that US representatives can continue negotiations, but cast doubt on the outcome. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said.

Negotiations to reach a final deal had been due to resume after the dayslong funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war’s first moments. The funeral, which ends Thursday, was meant to be a period of lower tensions.

Trump insisted again that the temporary deal he’d inked with Iran was much better than the 2015 nuclear accord negotiated by former president Barack Obama.

“Our deal is a wall to a nuclear weapon. His deal was a road for nuclear weapon,” Trump said, before noting that he may not even stick to it amid Iran’s recent escalations.

“We may just do it without a deal, because… it’s easier,” he said.

Trump says he’s on Iranian hit ‘list’

Trump also condemned Tehran for attacking ships despite assurances to the US that it wouldn’t escalate the conflict during Khamenei’s funeral processions: “We said, ‘Go and do your funeral stuff,’ and instead of that, they start shooting rockets at ships yesterday. And so we hit them very hard last night, very hard.”

He further charged that Iran seeks to assassinate him, saying he appears on certain “lists” in Iran. It was unclear what Trump was referring to exactly, though footage of Iranian mourners calling for his death at Khamenei’s funeral has received widespread attention this week.

“They want to take out the US leader — me. I’m on whatever list. I saw this morning I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a bit lucky, but maybe that doesn’t last very long,” he said.

“These are evil, sick people. And we have to root out that cancer. That cancer. You know what you do? You’ve got to cut out cancer early. And that’s the way I feel,” the president said.