US President Donald Trump announced today at the NATO summit in Ankara that the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, signed with the intention of ending the conflict, is no longer "in force", adding that he does not want "to have anything to do" with Tehran, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
The temporary truce between Washington and Tehran, concluded with the mediation of Pakistan, was intended to provide a 60-day window for negotiations to reach a lasting peace agreement. However, indirect talks in Qatar last week were fruitless and the US launched a new series of strikes on Iran yesterday.
"For me, it (the truce - ed. note) is over. I don't want to deal with them," Trump said before talks on the second day of the NATO summit in Ankara.
"They are scum. They are sick people. They are run by sick people", the US president also said of Iran. "As far as I'm concerned, dealing with them is just a waste of time", he said.
The new US strikes on Iran were "necessary", NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said, quoted by Reuters.
The US military has launched a new series of strikes against Iran. The US also revoked a waiver allowing Tehran to sell oil after three tankers were hit by missiles in the Strait of Hormuz, increasing pressure on an already fragile ceasefire.
"When you have a ceasefire and Iran is actually violating the ceasefire, I think it is really crucial that the US reacts decisively", Rutte told reporters ahead of a NATO leaders' meeting in Ankara.
At the alliance's meeting in Turkey, European leaders are trying to persuade Donald Trump to reaffirm his commitment to the military alliance after the US president renewed his arguments with them over war with Iran and Greenland.
Rutte said there could be no doubt about "the United States' full commitment to NATO", which he said also helps defend the US.
"However, there is also an expectation that Europeans and Canadians will "They're going to match their spending with the United States, which I think is completely fair," he added. "The good news is that this is the big win today. The fact that the Europeans and Canadians are doing exactly that is a loss for Putin and a victory for President Trump," he added.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said today that it had struck US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Iranian state television, BTA reported.
The IRGC also said it had hit 85 facilities at US bases in the two Gulf countries after the US launched new attacks on Iran.
"As a first response to this aggression, the IRGC's navy and air force carried out a joint operation with missiles and drones, hitting 85 strategic US military facilities," the IRGC said in a statement.
Kuwait announced earlier that its air defense systems had been activated to intercepted missiles after the US launched airstrikes against Iran, the Associated Press reported.
Bahrain also said it had been subjected to missile attacks.