Tehran has warned it could resume direct confrontation if Israel continues its campaign in Lebanon
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s escalation in Lebanon, Axios reported on Monday, citing two US officials and a third source briefed on the call.
Trump allegedly accused Netanyahu of endangering US negotiations with Iran and demanded that Israel halt a planned strike on Beirut, in what Axios described as one of the worst calls between the two leaders since Trump returned to office.
“You’re f***ing crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” one official summarized Trump’s remarks to Netanyahu. A second source briefed on the call said Trump was “pissed” and yelled at Netanyahu: “What the f*** are you doing?”
The US president reportedly emphasized Israel’s right to defend itself, but raised concerns that Netanyahu had escalated in a disproportionate way in recent days, with mounting civilian casualties and whole buildings razed to target individual Hezbollah commanders.
Israel has intensified its bombing campaign in Lebanon in recent days, against what it describes as Hezbollah targets. The Israeli military has pushed deeper into the country’s south, seizing Beaufort Castle, a 900-year-old Crusader fortress and a key vantage point in the region.
Tehran has threatened to abandon talks with the US, since a memorandum being negotiated with Washington explicitly calls for an end to the hostilities in Lebanon. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said he had spoken with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and warned that Tehran’s response could go beyond halting negotiations.
“If the Israeli aggression against Lebanon continues, we will not only stop the negotiation track, but we will be in direct confrontation with the enemy,” Ghalibaf wrote on X.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon,” adding that the Israeli leader “turned his troops around.” Trump also claimed that representatives of Hezbollah’s leadership had agreed to stop firing at Israel.
Netanyahu said he told Trump that Israel would strike Beirut if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israel.
“Our position remains the same,” Netanyahu wrote, vowing to continue operations in southern Lebanon “as planned.”
