A RETURN to open war between the United States and Iran appeared likely today after US President Donald Trump declared their interim ceasefire “over.”

“I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum,” he ranted. “They’re led by sick people and they’re vicious, violent people.”

“We make a deal. They [Iranian officials] go outside, talk to the press, they say: ‘We never even talked about it.’ There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the Nato summit in the Turkish capital Ankara, Mr Trump renewed his past threats to attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including power stations and desalinisation plants and to seize Kharg Island, which includes most of the Islamic Republic’s oil facilities.

After three tankers were hit on Tuesday, the US launched strikes on Iran and Tehran’s forces retaliated by attacking US military sites in the Gulf.

Mr Trump said he would allow negotiations with Iran to continue, while casting doubt on whether they have any chance of success. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said.

Oil prices shot up after he spoke, as fears grew that renewed conflict could engulf the wider Middle East and is likely to halt shipments through the Strait of Hormuz of oil, liquified natural gas, fertilisers and other commodities crucial to the global economy.

Negotiations to reach a final deal had been due to start after the days-long funeral for Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28, the war’s first day.

The talks are meant to focus on the toughest matters, including fully reopening the strait and rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.

“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Iranian parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”

The US military’s Central Command said its forces had launched strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

It claimed to have hit Iranian targets including air-defence systems, radars and more than 60 small boats used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including in Bandar Mahshahr, where a Revolutionary Guard member was killed. It also reported attacks on Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.