Trump says Iran ceasefire is over at NATO summit

President Trump said Wednesday that he believes the ceasefire with Iran is over, after the United States and Iran traded new attacks and tensions over the Strait of Hormuz spilled into a NATO summit already strained by disputes over defense spending, Greenland and the war in Ukraine.

“I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum,” Trump told reporters in Ankara, Turkey, where NATO leaders are concluding a two-day meeting. He called Iranian leaders “vicious, violent people” and added: “If they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it.”

Trump did not rule out further negotiations to end the war with Iran permanently. He said U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner want to keep talking, but added, “as far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They’re liars.” There was no immediate response from the Iranian government.

The comments followed another overnight escalation. The United States said it struck Iranian targets in retaliation for Iranian attacks on three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it responded by launching missiles and drones against Kuwait and Bahrain, two Gulf countries that host U.S. military bases. The Guardian reported that the U.S. strikes hit more than 80 Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz. CBS News reported that Washington also revoked a general license allowing Iran to sell oil, a step it said jeopardized a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding because oil sales were a key part of negotiations for Tehran.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, sitting beside Trump, backed the U.S. response. He called the strikes “absolutely necessary” and said, “It was a very strong response, and I’m with you on this.”

Trump used the summit to press NATO allies on defense spending and their response to the Iran conflict. He said he was “testing” allies on how they would help with the war. “Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down, and it’s OK, but you know, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars and they’re not there for us? We’ve always been there for them,” he said.

The Guardian reported that Trump also complained about the United Kingdom, saying, “The United Kingdom wouldn’t let us use the island for two weeks, so we had to fly back,” a reference to disputes over U.S. use of British facilities for strikes connected to Iran.

Defense spending remained a central point of friction. CBS News reported that Trump has pressed NATO members to spend 5% of annual gross domestic product on defense. The Guardian reported that NATO members, except Spain, agreed last year to raise national defense budgets to 3.5% of GDP by 2035. Trump singled out Madrid, saying, “Spain doesn’t agree to anything, and you shouldn’t carry them,” and added, “I don’t want to do any trade with them.” Spanish government sources told The Guardian that Spain has “an excellent social, cultural and economic relationship with the US” and no intention of changing it.

Trump also repeated his view that the United States should control Greenland, a self-governing territory under Denmark. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark would defend “every inch” of its territory and that Greenland was “of course not for sale,” The Guardian reported.

On Tuesday, Trump met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said he was considering easing sanctions on Turkey and allowing it back into the F-35 fighter jet program. Turkey was removed from the program in 2019 over its use of Russian defense technology, and Congress passed legislation in 2020 effectively blocking F-35 transfers to Turkey. “We have a very good relationship. … Why wouldn’t we do that?” Trump said.

Trump was also expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the summit sidelines. Asked Tuesday about Ukraine, Trump said, “It’s too bad it took so long. But I think there’s going to be… something’s going to come out.”