U.S. President Donald Trump on the 8th (local time) suggested he would attack Iran for a second straight day. Aimed at Iran, he also said he could blockade the seas again.
Attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara, Türkiye, President Trump said in a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, "We carried out a strong attack on Iran last night, and we will probably strike strongly again tonight."
He added, "I will give them a bit of a warning," and explained, "We will strike them hard, but we will see how things go."
This is seen as meaning the United States intends to attack Iran again on this day following the day before. The day before, U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, said on social media X that it had carried out airstrikes on more than 80 targets in Iran. It said the strikes were in response to Iran's attack on a civilian oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump in particular added that he could reimpose a maritime blockade to pressure Iran. However, he said, "The blockade would apply only to Iran, and other countries can of course do as they wish (with passage through the Strait of Hormuz)."
Meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that day, he called Iran "scum and disgusting people." He also said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on ending hostilities with Iran seems to be over, implying it has been nullified.
Asked whether a full-scale war with Iran would restart, Trump said, "Iran violates the agreement every day," adding, "Iran cheats and lies every day and has been killing people for 47 years."
The prospects for talks between the United States and Iran are unclear. He said, "If our excellent negotiators want to, I will let them keep talking, but I don't think they will," stressing, "I don't like these people (Iran)."
Trump also left room for continued dialogue, saying Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his elder son-in-law Jared Kushner, among the U.S. negotiating team, could keep talking with Iran.