U.S.-Iran Latest: Trump says ceasefire with Iran is over, calls it "a waste of time dealing with them"

President Trump said Wednesday that Iran had killed "thousands and thousands of our soldiers" as he blasted the country and said that, in his view, the ceasefire and negotiations were "over." 

"They can't have a nuclear weapon, and they go around killing people," he said during a sit-down with NATO chief Mark Rutte at a summit in Ankara, Turkey.

"They've killed thousands and thousands of our soldiers," he added, calling Qassem Soleimani — the Iranian general assassinated by the U.S. in 2020 — the "father of the roadside bomb." 

He also referred to the deadly October 2000 attack on the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen as "theirs." 

"Remember that disaster?" Mr. Trump said of the attack that killed 17 American sailors. "So, I don't like them at all." 

Iranian forces will make the country's coastline a "hell" for U.S. forces if they are ordered to attack, Iranian Army Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said Wednesday.

Speaking on state television, Sayyari said Iranian army, police and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps forces "are so strong and firmly present on the scene that the enemy will no longer even think about deploying forces on Iran's shores."

"The enemy knows that if it makes such a mistake, it will enter a hell from which it will no longer have a way out," he said, according to Iran's official IRNA news agency. "I promise that no matter how much the enemy makes slogans, it will still not dare to deploy forces on our shores."

He added that recent statements by President Trump were "intended to prove that there is no obstacle preventing a military presence on Iran's shores." 

"Our response, however, is clear," he said: "If you have the courage, come."

"We may today be behind the enemy in terms of technology and advanced equipment," Sayyari said, "but we are proud that what we have belongs to ourselves, and we are working to overcome all our shortcomings."

Overnight U.S. strikes on Iran were "absolutely necessary," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters at a summit in the Turkish capital Ankara, where President Trump declared peace talks with Iran "over" on Wednesday. 

"I think it was absolutely necessary because when you have a ceasefire and Iran is basically violating the ceasefire ... I think it is totally crucial that the U.S. forcefully react," he told reporters. 

"It was a very strong response, and I'm with you on this," Rutte said, sitting next to Mr. Trump.

President Trump called Iranian leaders "scum" on Wednesday as he declared negotiations with the country over.

"They're scum, they're sick people, they're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent people," Mr. Trump said at a NATO summit in the Turkish capital, Ankara. "And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it."

"Everyone's agreed, no nuclear weapon," the president said. "We make a deal. They go outside, joke to the press, they say we never even talked about it. There's something wrong with them, they're cuckoo."

The European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Wednesday that the back-and-forth strikes between Iran and the U.S. of the past two days "further complicate already fraught talks to end the war."

"Iran's attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait are unacceptable," she wrote in a post on X, criticizing Iran's Tuesday attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and targeting Persian Gulf states. 

EU foreign ministers are set to meet with their counterparts from Gulf states on Monday to discuss how to "preserve freedom of navigation in the strait as well as the Red Sea," Kallas said.

World oil prices soared more than five percent Wednesday after President Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was over, following a fresh exchange of strikes in the Middle East.

International benchmark Brent North Sea crude jumped 5.3 percent to $78.09 a barrel, while the main U.S. contract, West Texas Intermediate, advanced 5.4 percent to $74.23 a barrel.

The U.S. said it had hit over 80 Iranian targets overnight following attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a wave of reprisals against American bases in the Gulf. 

CBS/AFP

President Trump said Wednesday that the interim agreement with Iran was "over" but he will allow talks to continue.

"For me, I think it's over," Trump responded when asked about the status of the ceasefire. Referring to the country's leadership as "sick," he added: "It's just a waste of time dealing with them."

He made the comment on the sidelines of the two-day NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, and hours after striking Iran in what the U.S. described as retaliation for attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

CBS/AP

Iranian media reported Wednesday a series of blasts in the port city of Bushehr.

"Explosions have been heard in Bushehr and the surrounding area," the Mehr news agency said, without providing details.

A provincial official told Iran's FARS news agency two military bases in Bushehr province were targeted but there were no reports of casualties, according to the Reuters news agency.

Located in Iran's southwest, Bushehr hosts the country's only civilian nuclear power plant and lies near Kharg island, the main oil terminal through which 90 percent of the nation's crude exports transit.

CBS/AFP

Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens a third time Wednesday morning after Iran launched retaliatory attacks over airstrikes by the United States.

Both Bahrain and Kuwait were targeted by Iran on Wednesday.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard issued a statement acknowledging targeting U.S. military installations in both countries.

"The child-killing and terrorist U.S. army ... openly violated the ceasefire and violated the Islamabad understanding by launching an airstrike on a number of coastal bases and civilian stations on the coasts of Hormozgan and Mahshahr provinces," it said, without addressing Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on social media that, "The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don't fold."

Kuwait bristled at the Iranian attacks on its soil, which it said undermined efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region, according to French news agency AFP.

CBS/AP

President Trump surprised NATO leaders he is meeting with in Turkey when he ordered the launch of a series of strikes on Iran late Tuesday and the revocation of a license that allowed Tehran to sell its oil on the world market.

The moves were a major twist for a summit that had been aimed at showcasing how alliance members were stepping up spending on defense and focusing on support for Ukraine's war with Russia.

The strikes were retaliation after three merchant ships were struck in the Strait of Hormuz, and underscored the fragility of an interim deal to end months of fighting between the two countries. Mr. Trump launched the attacks shortly after leaving a dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan where the leaders of the alliance's 32 member countries had gathered ahead of Wednesday's talks.

Mr. Trump didn't directly address the strikes Tuesday night. It's rare for U.S. presidents to launch military action while outside the U.S., though former President Barack Obama authorized strikes in Libya while on a trip to Brazil in 2011.