ANKARA, Turkey — President Trump said Wednesday that he believes his memorandum of understanding with Iran is dead after he ordered overnight airstrikes on 80 targets in response to Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“I don’t like them at all. And frankly, I think we wasted a lot of time with them, I think we should just do our business,” Trump said in his first public remarks after ordering the airstrikes.
Suggested News
When asked by a reporter if the preliminary peace deal, which Trump signed at the Palace of Versailles in France June 17, was dead, the president replied: “To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum.”
“They’re vicious, violent people… so far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” Trump added.
“So far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They’re liars… They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people.
Iran’s lead negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, defiantly said in a morning statement that “the era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”
The 14-point memorandum of understanding called for a 60-day window to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as the two sides negotiated the final status of Iran’s nuclear program, the destruction of which was Trump’s core war aim, along with potential sanctions relief and unfreezing of Iran assets.
Iran attacked three commercial ships in the strait on Monday and Tuesday after insisting that all vessels use a Tehran-approved sea route, rather than a different route along the Omani coast preferred by the US and its allies.
