Trump threatens to hit Iran ‘hard again tonight’ after saying ceasefire ‘is over’

BBC -July8th2026

Summary

Donald Trump threatens to attack Iran “hard” tonight, hours after saying he thinks the US-Iran ceasefire is “over”
Trump – who is at the Nato summit in Turkey – earlier said of the Iranian leadership: “I don’t want to deal with them anymore, they’re scum. They’re sick people, they’re led by sick people” – here are his remarks in full
Trump added that negotiators on both sides could continue to talk, but “I think they’re wasting their time”
An Iranian official says Trump’s comments drive “the region toward fire” – and warns Iran’s proxies in the region have their “finger on the triggers”
Something seems to have shifted in Trump, writes our White House reporter Bernd Debusmann Jr
Trump’s comments follow both countries exchanging attacks. Late on Tuesday, the US said it had fired at more than 80 Iranian targets – BBC Verify has looked at one set of strikes
In response, Iran said it was targeting US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. The US strikes on Tuesday followed attacks on three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump has just been speaking to journalists during another meeting at the Nato summit, this time with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Trump is asked how the US plans to get the nuclear material still inside Iran, as well as the assurances he wants to see from its leaders after saying negotiations with them are a “waste of time”.

Trump says the US has effectively already secured the nuclear material “because it is so far underground nobody is going to be able to get it except us” – a reference to the June 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

He goes on: “[The nuclear material] is so far down underneath a mountain that it would take massive machinery that we have, that no other country has.”

Asked whether the US will consider putting boots on the ground in Iran, he adds: “Why would I go in there? I go in when they are completely either eliminated or an agreement is made

Last week, US President Donald Trump claimed talks with Iran had been paused for the funeral of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“We gave them [Iran] a week off for a funeral because we’re nice,” Trump told a crowd gathered at Mount Rushmore for his address on the eve of 4 July celebrations.

Iran has not confirmed what Trump said, though the country is still holding funeral processions for Khamenei over several days, with one in Iraq today.

Iran’s late supreme leader was killed on the first day of the war on 28 February, when the US and Israel attacked Iran. He is expected to be buried tomorrow in his birthplace, Mashhad, a holy city for Shia Muslims in north-eastern Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who travelled to Iraq for the funeral processions today, has already returned to Tehran.

It is not known whether his return is related to the renewed tensions between Iran and the US.

The figure of interest who has not been seen during the funeral procession for Ali Khamenei, which began in Tehran on 4 July, is his son and Iran’s third Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

He has not been seen since succeeding his father in early March, with written statements attributed to him and released via Iranian media his only communication.