US and Iran Trade Strikes as Trump Sours on Ceasefire
The United States and Iran exchanged strikes across the Gulf overnight and into today — American forces hitting more than 80 Iranian targets, Iran firing on US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait — after which President Trump declared dealing with Tehran “just a waste of time”, while adding that he would allow talks to continue. Washington revoked the waiver that had lifted Iranian oil sanctions. Iran’s parliament speaker was defiant: “The era of bullying and extortion is over… We don’t fold.” Oil surged towards $80.
The exchange has all but unwound last month’s interim deal: the oil-sanctions waiver gone, the ceasefire that Trump now calls worthless in tatters, and the strait that carries a fifth of the world’s oil once again a live conflict zone — all while Iran buries Khamenei and its new supreme leader stays invisible. NATO’s Secretary-General called the American strikes “absolutely necessary” from the summit floor, binding the alliance’s week to the Gulf. That Trump keeps the door to negotiation open even as he dismisses its point is the war’s central ambiguity. Watch whether either side strikes again before tomorrow’s burial, and where Brent opens in Asia tonight.