Trump: Ceasefire with Iran is ‘over’ after strikes — ‘They’re cuckoo’
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, for bilateral talks at Beştepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 08, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
7:03 AM – Tuesday, July 7, 2026
President Donald Trump has declared the United States’ ceasefire with Iran is “over” after the two countries exchanged strikes.
While at the NATO defense summit on Wednesday, Trump was asked by reporters if the memorandum of understanding (MOU) was “dead” after the U.S. fired retaliatory strikes at Iran in response to missile attacks it launched on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“To me, I think it’s over,” Trump said, acknowledging the “very interesting question.”
“I don’t want to deal with them anymore, they’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum, they’re sick people. They’re led by sick people and they’re vicious, violent people,” he said of Iran. “And if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it.”
He clarified that he would need to hear from his negotiating team, led by Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law and former staffer, Jared Kushner, before any decisions were made on the state of the preliminary agreement to end the conflict.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” he reiterated. “I’ll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate, they’re good people, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner.”
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” he said, speaking again about Iran’s leadership. “They’re liars.”
Trump explained that in some cases, the U.S. would attempt to make a deal with Iran, only for Tehran leaders to turn to the press and claim there was no deal or no talks. He added, pointing to his head for emphasis, “There’s something wrong with them; they’re cuckoo.”
Asked whether discussions would resume with Iran after the country completes its days-long funeral for deceased Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this week, Trump did not express confidence that any talks would be fruitful at this stage.
“I don’t care — they can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said. “They’re a bunch of lying guys.”
Trump lamented that after successfully working out deals throughout his life as a businessman and politician, Iran proved difficult to negotiate with.
To stress how “sick” the regime’s leaders are, he said they killed 54,000 of their own people in relation to nationwide anti-government protests that began in late December.
“They’re bad people. And frankly, I don’t want to waste my time with them,” Trump concluded.
President Trump says he believes the ceasefire with Iran is effectively over, calling further negotiations "a waste of time" while adding that any future talks would have to come back to him.
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