US President Donald Trump confronted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a heated phone call on Monday over Israel’s continuous bombardment of Lebanon, according to Axios, citing US officials and a source briefed on the call.
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Iran has made clear that a ceasefire in Lebanon is a key condition for any deal with the United States. Iranian state media also reported that talks with Washington are being suspended as Israel continues to bomb Lebanon.
During the call, Trump referred to Netanyahu as “crazy” and accused him of being ungrateful, the report said.
Summarising his remarks, a US official told Axios: “You’re f**king crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your a*s. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
Earlier the same day, Iran had warned it could pull out of negotiations with the US in response to Israel’s actions in Lebanon.
A second source quoted in the report said Trump also shouted at Netanyahu: “What the f**k are you doing?”
The report said Trump also claimed he had helped prevent Netanyahu from going to prison, referring to his backing during the Israeli leader’s corruption trial.
According to a US official, Trump warned that Israeli threats to strike Beirut would deepen Israel’s global isolation. Another official said he was angered by civilian deaths in Lebanon and strikes on buildings used to target Hezbollah figures.
Axios reported that Israel is no longer planning strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut.
How Netanyahu responded
Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement after the call saying he’d told Donald Trump that Israel would attack targets in Beirut if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israel, and that in the meantime, Israel would continue its operations in southern Lebanon.
“Our position remains the same,” Netanyahu wrote.
However, the second US official quoted by Axios claimed that, in reality, Trump had “steamrolled” Netanyahu on the call. “Bibi said, ‘OK, OK, just make sure everything is taken care of,'” according to the official.
Lebanon later announced a partial ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel on Monday in what would amount to a limited de-escalation of a conflict that has killed thousands of people and inflamed the broader US-Israeli war with Iran.
According to Lebanon’s embassy in Washington, the agreement would not end the conflict in the country, but it calls for Israel to refrain from strikes on Beirut and its suburbs controlled by Hezbollah, while the Iran-aligned group would halt its attacks on Israel.
Iran’s chief negotiator with the US and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf spoke on Monday with his Lebanese counterpart, Nabih Berri, regarding Israel’s invasion of the country.
In a post on X, Ghalibaf said: “In my conversation with my brother, Mr Nabih Berri, the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, I emphasised that if the crimes of the Zionist regime in Lebanon continue, we will not only halt the dialogue process but also stand firmly against them.”
He concluded his message by declaring, “Long live the resistance! Long live the defence of the motherland! Long live the brotherhood of the Iranian and Lebanese peoples!”
