Trump threatens to hit Iran 'hard' after saying ceasefire 'over'

Donald Trump has flagged the US could hit Iran "hard" in coming hours with fresh strikes, after earlier declaring he believes the ceasefire between the two countries is "over."

Although the US president's rhetoric had shifted throughout the day as he talked up a forceful response to claimed Iranian breaches of the truce.

"It may be a big attack and it'll knock out a lot of stuff," he said while sitting next to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkiye.

"I give them a little warning. We're going to hit them hard tonight."

President Trump said the US was not attacking at the "highest level," saying strikes on infrastructure such as bridges, power plants and desalination facilities would be targeted "if we have to."

He also suggested Kharg Island, a vital oil facility, would be hit as well.

Bur Mr Trump rejected suggestions any further strikes would constitute a return to all-out war.

"I don't think [the war is] going to start again," Mr Trump said.

"I think it is going to go very quickly.

"They hit a couple of ships, and so we hit them much harder — when they hit, we hit ten times harder."

Iran's Press TV had been citing a security source to say that each new US attack would be met with two Iranian attacks in response, and that the regime in Tehran would close the Strait of Hormuz once more.

Trump calls Iran 'scum'

Earlier in the day, Mr Trump was furious over further attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which the US responded to with strikes across the Persian Gulf at Iranian boats.

Explosions were also reported in Iranian port cities including Bandar Abbas.

Iranian launched retaliatory missile and drone attacks at countries such as Kuwait and Bahrain.

"I think [the deal] is over, I don't want to deal with them anymore, they're scum,"

Mr Trump said.

"They're sick people, they're led by sick people and they're vicious, violent people."

He was later asked why he had described the Iranian leadership in such a way, after weeks earlier suggesting they were reasonable.

"I got to know them," Mr Trump replied.

The US leader had said American negotiators would continue talking to Iran, in a bid to reach a lasting peace deal, despite these latest developments.

That is despite Iran repeatedly insisting that it would not progress negotiations on the future of its nuclear ambitions, or ongoing control of the Strait of Hormuz, until the interim deal was fully implemented.

Key to that is the first point of the agreement, which demands an end to fighting on all fronts — including in Lebanon.

Perhaps linked to that situation, or perhaps a throwaway comment, Mr Trump said he believed Israel would "want" to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon.

To this point, Israel has shown little interest or urgency in doing that as it maintains the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah remains a threat.

Israel has not publicly commented on the developments with Iran, watching to see how the situation develops.

Trump says Iran wanted time to mourn

Mr Trump said Iran's leadership had requested time to observe the funeral of slain supreme leader Ali Khamanei, who was killed in an airstrike on the very first day of the war.

His coffin was paraded through the streets of the Iraqi city of Najaf, one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims, as part of the weeklong mourning ceremony.

Coinciding with the funeral, Iranian authorities released the first images of Khamanei's former compound.

The vision showed the level of destruction at the former Tehran residence, where the supreme leader and other members of his family were killed on February 28.

It is believed that strike also left his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamanei severely injured.

He has not been seen publicly since the strike, despite being picked as the country's new leader.