Donald Trump declared on Wednesday that the fragile ceasefire with Iran was 'over,' telling reporters at a NATO summit in Turkey that 'any sense of calm in the region' had effectively collapsed after new attacks. The president, who returned to office promising to end what he once called 'forever wars,' said of Iranian leaders: 'I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum.'
The comments marked a dramatic reversal from the three‑week‑old peace deal that the White House had touted as proof that Trump could tame an adversary long viewed in Washington as intractable. That ceasefire, struck after a burst of US and Iranian proxy clashes, had been sold to Republican voters as a hard‑nosed bargain that would restore deterrence and keep American troops out of another drawn‑out Middle Eastern conflict. Now, with airstrikes resuming and diplomatic channels reportedly frozen, the administration is scrambling to explain how a deal packaged as a triumph unravelled in less than a month.
