MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Trump is now declaring the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is over, and he's threatening to start striking Iran again tonight. Trump is attending the NATO summit in Turkey, and his comments come as conflict between the U.S. and Iran reignited Wednesday. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram is with us now to tell us more about this.
Good morning, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So the president said the ceasefire is over. What do we know about what this means for the war potentially restarting?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. Well, as you pointed out, Trump is making these comments at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, where allies are gathered right now. He called Iranian leaders vicious, violent people, and he said he's threatening strikes again tonight, saying he would hit Iran hard. He's also floated the possibility of resuming the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz for Iranian ships. He said that in terms of these strikes that might come tonight that he would give Iran a little warning. He's going to, quote, "hit them hard," and he said, quote, "we'll see how it all works out." And these strikes that might come are followed by, you know, a little bit of conflict that's reignited in the region, Michel. Iran hit three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz just last night, and the U.S. said it carried out strikes on Iranian targets to retaliate for that. Iranian Revolutionary Guard said it responded to those strikes by launching missiles and drones against Kuwait and Bahrain. And those are two Arab Gulf countries that host U.S. military bases. So there has been some reignited tensions that are leading up to these comments from the president, but of course, these comments are really, you know, obviously very significant, as far as the trajectory of this war.
MARTIN: So these comments have been coming in all morning. Our colleague in Ankara has been reporting on this in real time. Has Iran responded to this yet, and have they indicated what this means for their take on the negotiation efforts?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. So far, we haven't - you know, Trump's comments just came moments ago, and we haven't seen a response from Iran yet to what the president is saying about this ceasefire being over. I will say, though, the markets are already responding to this. After Trump declared the ceasefire over, the price of oil has already started to climb back up. It's not at the highest levels, you know, that it was weeks ago, but it's definitely a marker for how turbulent this conflict has been, how much it impacts everything globally, especially because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and what that means for the price of oil and other goods. As far as negotiation efforts, though, are going, you know, Trump said in his comments that his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff who have been the two principal chief negotiators in this war, they want to continue to negotiate, but the president called it a waste of time. And, you know, just as a reminder, these two countries signed a memorandum of understanding about just three weeks ago, a sign that they hoped to move on from these strikes, focus on negotiating an end to this war. But in reality, you know, these strikes have been continuing as soon as that agreement memorandum was signed. The latest attack, though, and Trump's declaration of the ceasefire being over in his mind, it definitely marks a clear escalation.
MARTIN: So the conflict in Iran has been top of mind at NATO, and so has the war between Russia and Ukraine. Has the president been talking about that?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. Well, he literally just came out of a very long meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That was one of the very few one-on-one meetings that Trump is holding at the NATO summit in Turkey. He said he would also be speaking with Russian leader Vladimir Putin later today. And Trump said that he would likely allow Ukraine to begin producing Patriot missiles. That's pretty significant. It's a major defensive boon for Ukraine. He was just generally warmer with Zelenskyy than he has been at times in the past. You know, there's been sort of a frosty relationship there, but he was very complimentary of Zelenskyy. And this is all coming as that war, you know, continues.
MARTIN: That is NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram.
Deepa, thank you.
SHIVARAM: Thanks very much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
