Tension between Trump and Netanyahu over Lebanon: the leaders held a hostile call and the president announced that Israel will halt attacks on Beirut

President Donald Trump held an allegedly hostile call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this Monday, demanding that he curb Israel's military escalation in Lebanon in the face of the risk that Israeli actions would sink ongoing negotiations with Iran, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the conversation.

According to Axios sources, the call was one of the worst between the two leaders since Trump returned to the White House. The report said the U.S. leader called Netanyahu "crazy" and accused him of ingratitude for his orders to bomb Lebanon. A U.S. official summed up the leader's words this way: "You're fucking 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." A second source described Trump as "enraged" and noted that at one point he shouted at the prime minister, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Iran and Lebanon the triggers.

The conversation, confirmed by both and whose hostility was only confirmed by Axios, came at a time of heightened tension between the US, Israel, Iran, and the Middle Eastern countries. Hours earlier, the Iranian regime had suspended its indirect talks with US negotiators in protest over the Israeli offensive in Lebanon. Media linked to the Iranian state reported that Tehran was demanding an immediate halt to Israel's operations in both Gaza and Lebanon, as well as its withdrawal from the areas it occupies in the north, as a condition for resuming dialogue.

According to Axios, Trump's anger was driven precisely by that risk: Netanyahu was threatening to collapse the negotiations with Iran that Washington has been pushing for weeks. One official noted that while Trump recognized Israel's right to defend itself against attacks by the terrorist group Hezbollah, he believed the escalation in recent days had been disproportionate. Among the actions he was most concerned about were bombings that demolished entire buildings to eliminate a single militia commander and the high number of civilian casualties in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the regional context was explosive, with Israel on Sunday seizing Beaufort Castle, a strategic position in southern Lebanon north of the Litani River, and the Netanyahu government on Monday ordering strikes against the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, despite a cease-fire in place since April 17.

Post-call announcements.

After the conversation, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had spoken to Netanyahu and asked him not to carry out a major operation in Beirut. "He turned his Troops around. Thank you, Bibi!" he wrote. The leader added that he had also spoken with representatives of Hezbollah leaders, who agreed to cease attacks against Israel, and that Israel did the same. "Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!"

Netanyahu, for his part, stated with a harsher message. "I spoke tonight with President Trump and told him that, if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and our citizens, Israel will attack terrorist targets in Beirut. Our position remains the same," the prime minister wrote, adding that the Israel Defense Forces would continue to operate in southern Lebanon.

According to a second U.S. official quoted by Axios, however, Trump had "steamrolled" Netanyahu on the call. "Bibi said, 'OK, OK, just make sure everything is taken care of,'" that source recounted. After hanging up, Trump also posted that negotiations with Iran were continuing "at an accelerated pace."