President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his threat to “finish the job” in Iran and said the current ceasefire is “over” while denying that renewed U.S. strikes in the country mark a return to war. 

Trump told reporters during a press conference at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday that he was no longer sure if he was interested in a peace deal with Iran and was questioning if the country’s leadership was rational enough to work with. 

Hours after Trump’s remarks, CENTCOM announced additional strikes on Iranian targets “at the direction of” the president, saying in a statement that the operation was intended to “further degrade [Iran’s] ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.” 

Asked during the press conference what caused him to sour on Iran’s leadership — whom he referred to on Wednesday as “scum” and “sick people,” after praising them last month as “very rational” and “nice to deal with” — Trump replied: “I got to know them.”

Trump noted that he was comparing the current regime to the previous two regimes in his prior complimentary statements.“I think they’re much more rational than level one, level two. Level one is gone, level two is gone. This is level three,” Trump said. “I think they are more rational, but based on their actions over the last week or two, they’re not doing a service to the people.”

“I’m not sure I want to make a deal with them,” he continued. “We can play games, but I’m not sure I want to make a deal. Let’s just finish the job.”

The comments came hours after the president said that the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran was “over” and said “I don’t want to deal with them anymore.” 

Trump went on to criticize Iran’s leaders as “a little loco. They’re a little crazy,” pointing to Iran’s continued attacks against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and claiming he’s Iran’s top target for assassination.

“They want to make a deal, but they don’t know how to make the deal, and then they go around shooting ships at night [in the Strait of Hormuz]. I don’t like that,” he said. “I’m the No. 1 target. … I’m the No. 1, because they’re scum. That’s the way they act, and that’s the way they’ve done it for 47 years.”

Still, he rejected the idea that the military operations meant that the U.S. was resuming full-scale warfare with Iran. 

“I don’t think ​it’s going to start again. I ​think it’s going to go very quickly. They hit a couple of ships, ​and so we hit them ​much harder,” Trump said of the war. “When they hit, we hit. We use their language. We speak their language. No, I don’t think so. I think anything that happens is going to be over very quickly and will only make [the region] safer.”

The U.S. and Iran traded strikes over the weekend, testing the fragile memorandum of understanding signed between the countries earlier this month.

The U.S. first accused Iran of violating the ceasefire after it launched drone attacks on a Singapore-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had earlier issued a warning to commercial vessels “to strictly refrain from any movement outside the designated routes,” which are in parts of the waterway that it controls.

In a “powerful response” to Iran’s “unwarranted aggression,” CENTCOM said, the U.S. struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites on Friday. 

On Saturday, CENTCOM said Iran was “given [another] chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to” when it launched another one-way attack drone on a Panama-flagged oil tanker earlier that morning. In retaliation, the U.S. targeted Iranian military surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air-defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities, CENTCOM said.

President Donald Trump sounded his frustration in a post on Truth Social on Saturday, writing, “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started” in Iran. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”

After the U.S. strikes, the governments of Bahrain and Kuwait said they were targeted by Iranian drone and missile attacks, which the IRGC said were attempted strikes on U.S. military bases in the country. 

The IRGC added in its statement that vessels violating Iran’s instruction in the Strait of Hormuz “will be dealt with even more forcefully” and that U.S. bases in the region will be “experiencing hell” in the coming days.

By Sunday afternoon, the U.S. and Iran had agreed to cease their strikes and meet on Tuesday in Qatar to discuss the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that negotiations with Iran had reached a breakthrough and that he expected there to be a signing, possibly in Europe, in the coming days. With the diplomatic developments, Trump said he would cancel planned strikes against Iran, and call off an operation to take control of Kharg Island.

“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

In the Oval Office, the president said the deal was “in pretty final shape” and predicted that it would “get done over the next few days.” He also claimed that the agreement would ultimately deliver on his assurance that Iran would be prevented from having nuclear weapons and open up the Strait of Hormuz.

“The signing of the agreement will be in Europe, perhaps during the weekend,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon. “I won’t be able to be there, but Vice President [JD] Vance and the [White House special] envoy [Steve] Witkoff will.”

Trump also said that Iran’s supreme leader had approved the deal. However, Iranian state media and a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry have reportedly asserted that Trump’s claims that Iranian leadership had provided approval are “speculative” and that “nothing has been finalized.” 

The president spoke with the Emir of Qatar following the announcement and also with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Reports indicated that Netanyahu was initially surprised by the statement. However, after the conversation between the two leaders, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu “expressed his appreciation” for the framework and the inclusion of key objectives related to Iran’s nuclear program and support for terrorism. 

The U.S. and Iran have reportedly closed vital gaps on three main issues that have prolonged diplomatic efforts, including the protocol for releasing Iranian frozen assets, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. 

The announcement came after two days of tit-for-tat strikes between the U.S. and Iran. Earlier on Thursday, Trump warned that the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and threatened to seize Kharg Island, which handles roughly 90% of Iran’s oil exports.

CENTCOM announced on Wednesday evening that it had begun launching additional “self-defense” strikes against multiple targets in Iran, after initially renewing its attacks on Tuesday. A U.S. official told Axios the latest targets included air-defense systems, radars and drone command-and-control units in southern Iran.

The strikes came hours after President Donald Trump met with his national security team to discuss military options, and as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that CENTCOM would be “busy tonight” with “bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran.”

The military action came as Qatari mediators were reportedly meeting with officials in Tehran in an effort to revive negotiations and close remaining gaps between the U.S. and Iran.

Earlier in the day, Trump raised the possibility of targeting Iranian power plants and bridges, expressing frustration that Tehran is, in his view, stringing the U.S. along in diplomatic discussions. The strikes ultimately focused on military targets, according to a U.S. official.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday morning that the U.S. could soon launch additional strikes against Iranian power plants and bridges, raising the prospect of a broader military campaign against Tehran as he accused Iran of dragging the U.S. along in diplomatic negotiations.

The president’s comments to Fox News’ Trey Yingst came hours after the U.S. military announced it had targeted Iranian air defense, ground control and surveillance radar sites in response to Iran downing a U.S. Army helicopter on Monday. Iranian state media, meanwhile, claimed attacks on U.S. military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday morning that Iran had “taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them” and warned that Tehran would now “have to pay the price.”

Trump made similar threats regarding targeting Iranian power plants and bridges as a way to escalate hostilities when he was unsatisfied with negotiations in April, though such strikes were not carried out. 

Trump also disclosed new details about the incident that precipitated the latest U.S. action: According to the president, an Iranian drone became lodged between the two pilots of a U.S. Apache helicopter who guided the helicopter into the sea, where they were rescued “for the first time in U.S. military history” by an unmanned sea drone.

Israel will abide by a request from the Trump administration to pause its strikes on Iran, two Israeli sources told CNN, though Jerusalem plans to continue its operations against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

The halt comes after Iran announced earlier Monday that it would suspend its military operations against Israel, after having launched a number of missile barrages at the Jewish state since Sunday evening. However, Tehran has threatened to resume strikes should Israel continue its campaign in Lebanon, which the IDF did on Monday after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Monday that “any attack on [northern Israel] will lead to a strike on Dahiyeh,” referring to the Beirut suburb and Hezbollah stronghold that the IDF struck on Sunday in response to Hezbollah attacks targeting northern Israel earlier in the day. “We completely reject Iran’s threat,” Katz added. “Any Iranian attempt to link Lebanon and Iran and attack Israel will be met with great force, as happened yesterday.”

Israel had fired on Iranian strategic air defense systems and an Iranian petrochemical plant earlier on Monday after Tehran launched waves of ballistic missiles at northern and central Israel, the first such attacks since the U.S. and Iran reached a ceasefire in early April. Iran said it was retaliating for IDF strikes in Dahiyeh, which came after Hezbollah fired on northern Israeli towns. 

After Israel’s strikes on Iran, the Houthis, an Iran-backed proxy group in Yemen, launched a ballistic missile at Israel and declared a ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea.

The exchange marked the most significant military hostilities between the two sides in months and prompted immediate diplomatic intervention from President Donald Trump, who called on both sides on Monday to “stop shooting.” 

He had also reportedly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call to hold off on retaliatory strikes against Iran, though Israel fired on Iran afterwards. Trump also said that “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting,’” in a post on Truth Social early Monday morning.

Although a U.S. official initially told CNN that American forces played no role in intercepting the Iranian missiles, officials later confirmed that Washington did fire interceptors at the incoming projectiles. The success of those intercept attempts remains unclear. The U.S. military stated it did not conduct any joint strikes in Iran alongside Israel.

Trump also said he was “not happy” about the Israeli strikes in Beirut on Sunday, after he attempted to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah last week, which the terror group quickly rejected. 

Netanyahu will reportedly convene a full Security Cabinet meeting Monday evening local time. 

The diplomatic scramble unfolds as the U.S. and Iran attempt to maintain a fragile truce while negotiators seek to hammer out a comprehensive end to the conflict. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated that his nation has “abandoned neither the battlefield nor the negotiating table.”

“Our priority is national security and the peace of our people. We will firmly defend the rights of the nation and will not back down in the face of any threat,” Pezeshkian wrote on X on Monday, describing diplomacy and defense as the “two wings of national power.”

This story was updated on June 8 to reflect an updated CNN report that U.S. forces did attempt to assist Israel in intercepting Iranian missiles.

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Israel would not carry out strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut in exchange for the terror group halting its persistent attacks on northern Israel and IDF soldiers, cutting off imminent Israeli plans to expand its operations against Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital.

Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social where he touted successful phone calls earlier Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “highly placed representatives” representing Hezbollah. In a subsequent post, he added that he had asked Netanyahu “not to go into a major raid of Beirut” and Netanyahu “turned his Troops around.” Hezbollah likewise “agreed to stop shooting at Israel, and its soldiers.” 

“Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for an ETERNITY!” Trump wrote.

Netanyahu, who had said in a video statement hours earlier that he had “instructed the IDF to strike terrorist targets in Beirut,” seemingly confirmed the deal, saying after Trump’s announcement that Israel would stop firing on Hezbollah targets in the capital for as long as the terrorist group ceased its attacks on Israel. 

“I spoke this evening with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not stop firing at our cities and civilians, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut. This position remains unchanged,” Netanyahu said. “At the same time, the IDF will continue operating in southern Lebanon as planned.”

The Lebanese Embassy in Washington said on Monday that, “Lebanese authorities received confirmation of Hezbollah’s agreement to the U.S. proposal calling for a mutual cessation of attacks.” 

The embassy said the “scope of the ceasefire” will “subsequently [be] expanded to encompass the entirety of Lebanese territory,” a provision that Netanyahu made no mention of.

The announcement came hours after Iranian state media reported that Tehran had suspended peace talks with the U.S. over Israel’s expanding military campaign in Lebanon. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X on Monday that, “a ceasefire between Iran and the United States constitutes, without any ambiguity, a comprehensive ceasefire across all fronts, including Lebanon.”

Trump dismissed this reporting, writing on Truth Social that “talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday afternoon that he would extend his pause on plans to strike Iran’s energy infrastructure, “per Iranian government request,” for an additional 10 days amid ongoing diplomatic negotiations to end the war.

Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform that he is “pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time.” 

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” Trump added.

The post comes a few hours after the president said that he wasn’t sure if he would follow through with his five-day delay, set to expire Friday, for strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure, which he had pushed back at the start of diplomatic negotiations on Monday. 

“I don’t know yet,” Trump said when asked by reporters if the strikes would still take place Friday. “It’s a day. In Trump time, a day, you know what it is? That’s an eternity.”

Trump made the comments while speaking to reporters at the opening of his first Cabinet meeting since launching the war in Iran.

He alleged that Iranian leaders “are begging to make a deal” to end the war while criticizing press reports alleging that he was looking for a diplomatic off-ramp to the conflict, saying he has not decided whether he’ll agree to a diplomatic settlement if one were reached.

“They are begging to make a deal. Not me,” Trump said of current Iranian leadership. “They’re not fools, they’re very smart actually in a certain way and they’re great negotiators. I say they’re lousy fighters, but they are great negotiators. They are begging to work out a deal. I don’t know if we will be able to do that. I don’t know if we’re willing to do that. They should’ve done that four weeks ago. They should’ve done it two years ago.”

“The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to sh*t,” he said later on, touting the U.S. military operation as a success. 

During the meeting, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed reports that the U.S. had presented Iran with a “15-point action list” as a starting offer in peace talks between the two countries. He also confirmed that Pakistan had been acting as a mediator for the U.S. and Iran.

“We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the ​inflection point ​with ⁠no good alternatives for them other than more death ​and destruction,” Witkoff said. “We ​have ⁠strong signs that this is a possibility.”

Witkoff said to Trump, “You’ve instructed us that your preference is always peace and that we should make that our priority. We have delivered that message, sir, along with the 15 points for peace. Finally, we have told Iran one last thing: don’t miscalculate again.”

Trump later revealed that the “present” Iran gifted the U.S. was allowing eight oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which he said proved the U.S. was speaking with the “right people” in Iran with the authority to make such decisions. 

“They said to show you the fact that we’re real, and solid and we’re there, we’re going to let you have eight boats of oil, eight boats, eight big boats of oil,” Trump said of the Iranians. “And I said, ‘Well, I guess they were right,’ and they were and they were real.”

Trump then said that Iran later allowed two additional vessels to travel through the strait, which he described as an overture from the Iranians to “apologize for something they said.”

Turning to Witkoff, the president then expressed hope that he hadn’t “screwed up” their diplomatic efforts by revealing the “gift.”

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), one of the few House Democrats who has supported strikes on Iran and opposed a war powers resolution to bring it to an end earlier this month, now says he wants to see the war wrapped up, and will vote for an upcoming resolution to end the conflict.

“It’s time to finish the operation in Iran. It’s time to be done,” Landsman said in a statement on Friday. “No expansion of the original operation. No ground troops.”

Landsman’s statement comes in advance of an anticipated vote on another war powers resolution to end the conflict next week, led by Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY). Landsman said he plans to vote for the war powers resolution, and urged colleagues to do the same. 

Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Jared Golden (D-ME) and Juan Vargas (D-CA) were the only other Democrats to vote against the previous war powers resolution earlier this month.

“The fact is, in three weeks, we have destroyed nearly all of the regime’s missile and drone launch capacity and eliminated their ability, for now, to produce ballistic missiles and drones,” Landsman said. “This means the objective to destroy the weapons shield built to protect their underground nuclear enrichment facilities has been achieved.”

“The cost of inaction was far too high to tolerate. But now it’s time to be done,” he continued, adding that U.S. military officials have successfully executed their mission, so it is “now it is time for the administration to end the operation before we become entangled in a conflict with no strategic logic.”

The Ohio congressman criticized the Trump administration for its communication around the war, while praising military officials for how they have conducted the U.S. operations.

Cuellar, Golden and Vargas did not comment on how they plan to vote on the next war powers resolution. Assuming full attendance, just three other lawmakers who opposed the previous war powers resolution would need to flip to allow the next one to pass.

Landsman, Cuellar, Golden and three other moderate House Democrats are also co-sponsoring an alternative war powers resolution that would limit the duration of the war to 30 days from its inception, which also should be eligible for a vote in the House soon.

That 30-day deadline from the war’s beginning — March 30 — is quickly approaching, raising the likelihood that other Democrats like Cuellar and Golden might support ending the war, based on the timeline they laid out.

When Israel and the U.S. launched their first strikes on Iran, Ron Dermer was in Australia, about as far as one could get from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem or the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. He soon found himself, like many other Israelis wanting to get home from abroad, on a plane to Taba, Egypt, from which point he would cross back into Israel, where airspace remains restricted.

Since November, when he resigned from his official post as strategic affairs minister, Dermer has spent most of his time traveling for speaking engagements. But now, two sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed to Jewish Insider, Dermer is back again in public service. 

He may not have an official title, but he is doing what he has done for the previous three years — serving as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest and most trusted advisor. Israel’s Walla News quoted a source in the Prime Minister’s Office who said Dermer was reporting for “reserve duty,” like over 100,000 other Israelis since the outset of the war with Iran.

Netanyahu and Dermer’s relationship has been so close for the past 26 years that Dermer has been called the prime minister’s third son and nicknamed “Bibi’s brain.” With a very small inner circle and few advisors whom he truly trusts, Netanyahu views Dermer as a critical asset to his team at a time when the U.S. and Israel are making decisions that will determine the future of the Middle East for years to come.

Dermer is also known as having a good relationship with the Trump administration, and has reportedly been taking part in Netanyahu’s nightly calls with President Donald Trump. 

Those relationships have served Dermer well. When Trump presented his 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza last September, he repeatedly said, “Right, Ron?” addressing his remarks to Dermer, who was sitting in the front row.

Trump and Netanyahu have been remarkably in sync since the war began on Feb. 28. But some cracks are beginning to show: After the IDF bombed an Iranian fuel depot earlier this week, Trump administration sources leaked that they thought Israel went too far. 

Trump has sent mixed messages about the expected duration of the war, saying on Monday that it is “very complete,” but also “could go further,” while Netanyahu said on Saturday night, “We are continuing with full force.” 

Dermer may well be the point person tasked to smooth over the differences that are likely to come up between the leaders. Netanyahu is counting on it.