After an escalating exchange of fire, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (July 8) declared that the interim ceasefire with Iran is 'over', describing the Iranian leadership as 'sick' and saying it was a 'waste of time dealing with them.' The US President, however, said he will allow talks to continue.

On the status of the ceasefire with Iran, Trump said, "To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They are scum. They're led by sick people. I'll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate—they are good people, but they have to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them."

He commented on the sidelines of the two-day NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, and hours after striking Iran in what the US described as retaliation for strikes on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks on shipping threatened efforts to resume fuel shipments in the strait that are crucial to the global economy.

labelled Iranians as "liars, cheats and sick people", while confirming that American forces had targeted "very dangerous people" within Iran during the night.

"They're liars, they're cheats, they're sick people. They've hurt their people. They killed 54,000 people -- as of now -- who were protesting. You know, when people say how come they haven't taken over? They can't take over because they're dead," Trump said.

"We attacked, very powerfully, last night, the very dangerous people from Iran... There's something wrong with them. We say, 'Go and do your funeral stuff,' and instead of that, they start shooting rockets at ships yesterday. So we hit them very hard last night," he added.