The fragile US Iran ceasefire appears to have collapsed. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump declared that the truce and interim agreement meant to end the war with Iran were now “over,” as the two nations traded strikes following accusations that Tehran had attacked three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump Signals the End of the Truce

Trump said he would still permit negotiators to continue their discussions, but he made his frustration plain, describing the effort as ultimately just a waste of time dealing with Iran. His remarks came after Iran launched a wave of attacks on American bases in the Gulf on Wednesday, retaliation, Washington said, for U.S. strikes that were themselves prompted by Iranian assaults on three ships in the strait.

As of Wednesday morning, Iran had not said whether it, too, considered the ceasefire finished. However, before Trump spoke, its foreign ministry stated that U.S. and Israeli actions had rendered key elements of the war-ending agreement ineffective.

The rapid escalation has cast serious doubt over the future of talks, as both countries continue to search for a lasting resolution to a war that began with U.S.-Israeli strikes back in February.

A Backdrop of Diplomacy and Mourning

The renewed violence unfolded against a dramatic backdrop. Trump was in neighboring Turkey for a NATO summit at the time, while Iran was in the midst of a mass, multi-day funeral for its slain Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

At the heart of the ongoing dispute lies the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global trade route. Restoring safe maritime traffic through the waterway has been central to tensions between Washington and Tehran, with Iran insisting it has the right to charge fees for ships passing through.

Negotiations had been paused until the funeral proceedings concluded on Thursday, but the fresh attacks have deepened uncertainty about whether the peace process can survive. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf struck a defiant tone, declaring on social media that the era of bullying and extortion was over and insisting that Iran would not fold.

The U.S. Strikes

U.S. Central Command announced late Tuesday that it had completed a major round of strikes, hitting more than 80 targets with precision munitions. According to the command, the targets included:

• Iranian air defense systems
• Command and control networks
• Coastal radar sites
• Anti-ship missile capabilities
• More than 60 small boats belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in and near the strait

The stated goal was to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten shipping in the waterway. A U.S. official described the operation as larger than previous retaliatory strikes against Iran, noting it was carried out using Air Force jets and Navy tactical aircraft.

Central Command framed the strikes as a response to what it called Iran’s demonstrated aggression, describing Tehran’s actions as unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire. Another U.S. official said the strikes were carried out specifically because of the Iranian attacks on ships, characterizing those attacks as acts of international terrorism against innocent vessels.

Video verified by NBC News showed multiple explosions at a port in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas. According to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency, several people were injured by shrapnel from explosions at a commercial pier in the town of Sirik and were taken to a hospital in nearby Minab.

Iran’s Retaliation

Iran responded forcefully. Early Wednesday, missile alerts sounded in both Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait, which hosts U.S. Army forces.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed it had carried out a joint missile and drone operation targeting 85 key U.S. military sites, including locations in the Fifth Fleet area in Bahrain and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. It also asserted that it had shot down a U.S. MQ-9 drone.

In a fiery statement, the Guard accused the American military of openly violating the ceasefire and breaching what it called the Islamabad understanding by striking coastal bases and civilian stations along Iran’s Hormozgan Province and Mahshahr. The Pentagon did not comment on those claims, and it remained unclear whether any U.S. sites had sustained damage.

The Attacks on Shipping

This latest confrontation echoed a similar exchange in late June, when an Iranian attack on a commercial ship in the strait triggered U.S. strikes and further Iranian retaliation against Bahrain and Kuwait.

In response to the newest attacks, the U.S. on Tuesday revoked a waiver that had temporarily allowed Iranian oil to be sold on the global market. The revocation took effect immediately, though it specified that any production, delivery, or sale of Iranian oil must be wound down by July 17, moving up the original deadline of August 21.

According to the U.S., Iran had targeted three tankers flagged to Liberia, Saudi Arabia, and the Marshall Islands. One tanker was struck off the coast of Oman and caught fire, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Iranian state television reported that the liquefied natural gas tanker was attacked after ignoring warnings, but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility for that or any other strike on ships. The two other vessels suffered some damage, but no one was injured, and both continued on their journeys.

The market impact was swift. Oil prices jumped from around $69 a barrel to nearly $73 following the developments, after several weeks of relative calm.

Talks Paused Amid the Funeral

The diplomatic track had already been on hold. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner traveled to Doha, Qatar, last week for talks with Qatari mediators, though they did not meet directly with Iranian negotiators who were also present.

Among the thorniest issues still on the table are potential restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program and its stockpile of enriched uranium. Those negotiations appear to have stalled this week as Iran focused on the elaborate funeral events for its former supreme leader, who was killed in the opening phase of the war.

His son, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei, was named his successor in March but has yet to appear publicly or issue even an audio statement since assuming the country’s highest office. Khamenei’s casket was displayed Tuesday in the religious center of Qom, with additional funeral events planned in Iraq, home to two of the holiest shrines for Shiites.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who had been in the Iraqi city of Najaf for the ceremonies, returned to Tehran following the U.S. strikes, according to state media. Carrying the funeral across the border into Iraq also gave the Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s most powerful military and political force, an opportunity to showcase its regional influence.

The Bottom Line

With both sides trading heavy blows and Trump declaring the ceasefire over, the path back to negotiations looks increasingly uncertain. The renewed fighting over the Strait of Hormuz, combined with rising oil prices and hardening rhetoric on both sides, threatens to unravel months of fragile diplomacy. As Iran mourns its fallen leader and the U.S. presses its military advantage, the region once again finds itself teetering on the edge, with the prospects for a lasting peace hanging in the balance.