President Trump said Wednesday he considers his agreement with Iran dead. He said it after ordering American strikes on 80 targets overnight in response to Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
“They’re scum,” he said of the regime. Liars, cheats, sick people. He said he didn’t want to waste his time with them anymore. He said this at the NATO summit — within range, as it happens, of Iranian missiles.
Pres. Trump on ceasefire with Iran: "To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum…They're sick people. They're led by sick people. They're viscous violent people. If they had a nuclear weapon they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned it's over." pic.twitter.com/aiYk8oji3V
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 8, 2026
It’s worth remembering how we got here. The deal was signed with some ceremony at Versailles three weeks ago. Fourteen points, a 60-day window, the start of a path toward resolving Iran’s nuclear program without more war. It looked, at the time, like proof this president could produce quiet along with the noise.
Then Iran struck commercial ships in one of the most important waterways on earth. That’s not a technicality. That’s the kind of act meant to end negotiations, not continue them.
Markets noticed fast. Oil jumped. The Dow dropped nearly 600 points, the S&P lost close to a full percentage point, before most of the country had finished breakfast. Markets don’t get sentimental. They price in a threat.
Tehran didn’t blink either. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the era of bullying is over, that Iran doesn’t fold. It’s what regimes say. Sometimes it’s also what they believe, right up until they don’t.
Trump’s answer wasn’t subtle.
He talked about taking Kharg Island, which handles most of Iran’s oil exports. He talked about knocking down every bridge in the country in a day. He mentioned the desalination plants.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "We're not attacking at the highest level. The highest level are the bridges…their electric plants, where they make their electricity. If we have to, we'll take them out. I don't want to do that, but if we have to, we'll take them out…We attacked Kharg Island… pic.twitter.com/hkfo3LaRPU
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 8, 2026
This is a man applying leverage all at once, in public, for everyone to hear — including, presumably, whoever in Tehran decides what happens next.
Is the deal really finished? Presidents say things are over and a month later they aren’t. Trump left a door open, saying his negotiators could keep talking if they wanted; he just didn’t see the point. That’s not the same as slamming it shut.
But he’s stopped pretending patience he doesn’t feel. That’s a kind of honesty. The country should watch closely. When a president starts talking about scum and bridges and islands, he’s usually telling you something true about where things stand.
