The future of peace talks in the Middle East have been thrown into question after Iran’s foreign ministry said it needed to “reassess” its participation, while Donald Trump said Iran would have to “pay the price” after the two countries traded fire overnight, drawing neighbouring states back into an on-and-off war that has consumed the region since late February.The US launched strikes against Iran in the early hours of Wednesday morning in retaliation for what it said was Iran’s downing of a US army helicopter near the strait of Hormuz. Iran then launched a wave of retaliatory airstrikes claiming hits on US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.The tit-for-tat attacks were the most severe escalation since a ceasefire was established in early April. Talks to turn the ceasefire into a durable peace have been stalling for weeks, with periodic flare-ups as both sides launched limited strikes and traded blame for violating the truce.Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said US strikes jeopardised ongoing ceasefire negotiations. He accused the US of undermining diplomacy with its attacks and contradictory messages. He said that Israel was also harming the diplomatic process by continuing to violate the ceasefire in Lebanon.“Following overnight events, we need to reassess … Any diplomatic process requires a minimum stable environment,” Baqaei said.Trump, for his part, said Iran had taken “too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them” and would now pay a price.In a post on Truth Social, the US president said: “Iran’s military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist any more – They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!!”Donald Trump: ‘They have been completely defeated.’ Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/APTrump has frequently threatened to resume military action since a ceasefire was established in April, but has not yet fully followed through.Strikes since the ceasefire have been limited and styled as calculated, one-off attacks, as both sides jockey for position at the negotiating table.The US military described its overnight attacks as a “proportional response” to the downing of the helicopter, whose two crew members were rescued. The US said it had hit Iranian air defences, ground control stations and radar sites. Iran said Qeshm island and the port city of Sirik were attacked, while Iranian media reported explosions in the seaside city of Bandar Abbas.“I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that’s what this one is,” Trump told ABC news.The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded by attacking US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan with missiles, and said it was ready to give a “crushing and decisive” response if the US attacked again.The US military said nearly all Iranian missiles and drones had been intercepted, with no immediate reports of US casualties or damage to its facilities. Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain all said the Iranian projectiles had been intercepted.