US President Donald Trump, at a NATO meet in Ankara, declared the June 17 ceasefire pact with Iran "over," causing oil prices, particularly Brent crude futures, to surge over 6% to approximately $78.50, exceeding pre-war levels, following retaliatory strikes by both nations on targets near the Strait of Hormuz. Trump's intensely negative remarks about Iran, calling them "scum" and "vicious, violent people" who would use nuclear weapons if acquired, were made in response to Iranian attacks on oil tankers, which the US claims were retaliation for earlier US strikes on Iranian targets. The conflict and potential blocking of the Strait have already depleted global oil stocks, and Trump's pronouncements suggest a renewed cycle of escalation, with US talks with Iran on a Memorandum of Understanding now deemed by him as a waste of time. The timing of Iran's tanker attacks coincided with the funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was reportedly killed in a US-Israel air strike.

US President Donald Trump, at a NATO meet in Ankara, declared the June 17 ceasefire pact with Iran "over," causing oil prices, particularly Brent crude futures, to surge over 6% to approximately $78.50, exceeding pre-war levels, following retaliatory strikes by both nations on targets near the Strait of Hormuz. Trump's intensely negative remarks about Iran, calling them "scum" and "vicious, violent people" who would use nuclear weapons if acquired, were made in response to Iranian attacks on oil tankers, which the US claims were retaliation for earlier US strikes on Iranian targets. The conflict and potential blocking of the Strait have already depleted global oil stocks, and Trump's pronouncements suggest a renewed cycle of escalation, with US talks with Iran on a Memorandum of Understanding now deemed by him as a waste of time. The timing of Iran's tanker attacks coincided with the funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was reportedly killed in a US-Israel air strike.

US President Donald Trump, at a NATO meet in Ankara, declared the June 17 ceasefire pact with Iran "over," causing oil prices, particularly Brent crude futures, to surge over 6% to approximately $78.50, exceeding pre-war levels, following retaliatory strikes by both nations on targets near the Strait of Hormuz. Trump's intensely negative remarks about Iran, calling them "scum" and "vicious, violent people" who would use nuclear weapons if acquired, were made in response to Iranian attacks on oil tankers, which the US claims were retaliation for earlier US strikes on Iranian targets. The conflict and potential blocking of the Strait have already depleted global oil stocks, and Trump's pronouncements suggest a renewed cycle of escalation, with US talks with Iran on a Memorandum of Understanding now deemed by him as a waste of time. The timing of Iran's tanker attacks coincided with the funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was reportedly killed in a US-Israel air strike.

US President Donald Trump was at his vicious best in Ankara on the sidelines of the ongoing two-day NATO meet. His comment that the ceasefire pact inked on June 17 in Versailles was ‘over’ shook oil prices yet again as governments scurried to hedge against the clear and present danger.

But the damage was already done as oil prices, which had got a brief breather after the pact, were on the boil again. Brent crude futures jumped more than six per cent to about $78.50—much higher than the pre-war levels.

The blocking of the Strait and the ongoing conflict had spiked oil prices from March to May while global oil stocks plummeted to very low levels.

The widespread strikes mean one thing—that the Hormuz would suffer another blockade with the US withdrawing the permission for Iranian oil to be purchased without inviting sanctions. The scale and intensity of the attacks also mean that another cycle of retaliation and counter-retaliation was underway.

Trump’s berating of the Iranians was only expected given the fact that the US and Iran had engaged in tit-for-tat strikes, with the US hitting out at about 80 Iranian targets, including on Bandar Abbas, Sirik, and on Qeshm Island on Tuesday in response to Tehran’s attacks on oil tankers near the Hormuz Strait.

What was not expected was Trump’s vitriol-filled language. “They’re (Iranians) 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. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's (the ceasefire pact) over,” he ranted.

Adding that the US representatives can continue talking to the Iranians, but “they're wasting their time.” The ongoing talks were mainly on implementing the June 17 US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding.

On the ceasefire, the US President said: “For me, I think it’s over. I don't want to deal with them anymore.”

Iran hit the oil-carrying tankers on the Hormuz on the day the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was taking place. Khamenei was killed in the US-Israel air strikes on February 28. 

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