President Donald Trump reportedly called his close ally Israeli Prime Minister\u00a0Benjamin Netanyahu\u00a0\u201cf-cking crazy,\u201d for potentially upending Washington\u2019s efforts to reach a preliminary peace agreement with Iran.<\/p>\n
Axios\u00a0reported on Monday that Trump scolded Netanyahu over Israel\u2019s escalation of hostilities in Lebanon in an \u201cexpletive-laden\u201d call, citing two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d be in prison if it weren\u2019t for me,\u201d a U.S. official told the news outlet Trump said to the Israeli leader. \u201cI\u2019m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another source briefed on the call told Axios that the U.S. President was \u201cpissed\u201d and at one point yelled to Netanyahu, \u201cWhat the f-ck are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u00a0gave mixed signals Monday about the status of a peace deal with Iran, at one point saying in a public interview that he \u201ccouldn\u2019t care less\u201d if negotiations collapsed, while later posting on Truth Social that talks were \u201ccontinuing, at a rapid pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Semi-official state news agency Tasnim\u00a0reported\u00a0that Tehran was prepared to suspend talks with the U.S. on Monday after Netanyahu\u00a0ordered\u00a0an attack on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut in retaliation for alleged attacks on Israel by Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy militant group in Lebanon, has been in long-running conflict with Israel, escalating after Oct. 7, 2023, in what Hezbollah claims to be a war of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza suffering from Israel\u2019s response to Hamas\u2019 attack. Hostilities have continued from both sides despite a November 2024 cease-fire as well as an April 2026 cease-fire.<\/p>\n
Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, have said that Israeli attacks on Lebanon would also violate the ceasefire the U.S. and Iran agreed to in April. \u201cThe ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,\u201d Araghchi\u00a0posted on social media. \u201cIts violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The U.S. and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Trump rang Netanyahu to urge him to hold off on bombing Lebanon\u2019s capital, according to one Axios source, Trump warned the Israeli leader that such an escalation would further isolate Israel on the global stage. Citing a U.S. official, Axios reported that Trump was aware that Israel\u2019s escalation was framed as responsive to Hezbollah attacks but that the U.S. President felt the response was disproportionate.<\/p>\n
Axios sources also said that Trump, in the call, claimed he helped keep Netanyahu out of prison. The U.S. President\u00a0has vocally supported\u00a0the Israeli leader amid domestic challenges Netanyahu faces\u2014including an ongoing corruption trial.<\/p>\n
Trump later described the call, in a\u00a0post on Truth Social, as \u201cvery productive,\u201d noting that he\u2019d also spoken with representatives of Hezbollah and that both sides had agreed to not attack each other.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Monday afternoon, the\u00a0Lebanese Embassy in Washington said Hezbollah had accepted the terms of a U.S. proposal \u201cfor a reciprocal cessation of attacks.\u201d Under the proposal, the statement said, \u201cIsraeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from carrying out attacks against Israel, with the ceasefire framework to be expanded to encompass all Lebanese territories.\u201d<\/p>\n
The embassy added that Trump had contacted the Lebanese ambassador to the U.S., informing her that Netanyahu had agreed to the arrangement.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu, in a\u00a0post on social media, said in his own statement that Israeli forces will continue to operate \u201cas planned\u201d in southern Lebanon, and that he told Trump \u201cif Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens\u2014Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to\u00a0ABC News\u00a0about the status of peace talks with Iran, Trump acknowledged that \u201cthere was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
But some in Israel were roiled by Trump\u2019s declaration of a partial ceasefire in Lebanon. Israel\u2019s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, addressed\u00a0Netanyahu on social media, saying that it was necessary to strike Hezbollah and that \u201cThis is the time to tell our friend, President Trump\u2014’no’.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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