"You're totally crazy": Trump insults Netanyahu – and stops Israel's strike on Lebanon
Israel canceled planned airstrikes on Lebanon at Trump's request. In a phone call, the US President is said to have vehemently insulted Netanyahu.
Israel has canceled airstrikes on Lebanon at the request of Donald Trump, while he tries to bring Iran back to the negotiating table. The US President called Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening after Iran left the peace talks and said it would only return if Israel ceased its attacks on Lebanon and Gaza.
Donald Trump is said to have verbally attacked Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call. (Archive photo) © Jim Watson/AFP
Trump is said to have called Netanyahu "crazy" during the phone call on Monday and accused him of ingratitude, while swearing profusely. A US official told Axios that Trump explained to Netanyahu that sticking to plans to bomb Lebanon would further isolate Israel internationally. Two sources said Trump claimed he had helped the Israeli Prime Minister avoid ending up in prison – a reference to Netanyahu's ongoing corruption trial. A staffer in Washington summarized the US President's words as follows: "You're totally crazy. You'd be in jail if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Now everyone hates you. Everyone hates Israel because of this."
Furious phone call and promise: no troops to Beirut
A second source familiar with the conversation said Trump was "furious" and at one point yelled at Netanyahu: "What the hell are you doing?" After the phone call, Trump declared: "No troops will go to Beirut, and all troops that are on their way have already been recalled."
Later, he told ABC News that he believed there would be an agreement with Iran "in the next week" to extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Netanyahu had ordered attacks on targets in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, a Hezbollah stronghold called Dahiyeh, in retaliation for alleged violations of the ceasefire by the terrorist group.
Iran announced it would respond with attacks on northern Israel and leave the peace negotiations. The Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Monday: "Iran's negotiating team has suspended talks and the exchange of messages via mediators."
Threats from Tehran and Trump's change of course
The Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters – the main operational command of the IRGC – declared: "If they bomb Dahiyeh and Beirut, those who do not want to be harmed should leave the area." Initially, Trump said about Iran's exit from the peace talks: "I honestly don't care if they're over... I really don't care. I couldn't care less."
On Monday evening, however, he had a conversation that he described as "very productive" with Netanyahu and claimed he had de-escalated both Israel and Hezbollah. Israel agreed not to send troops to southern Beirut, and the Lebanese militia promised to stop attacks.
Trump wrote on Truth Social after the "very productive" phone call with Netanyahu: "No troops will go to Beirut, and all troops that are on their way have already been recalled." He also said he had had a very good conversation "via senior representatives" with Hezbollah, and it had agreed that all shelling would end – Israel would not attack them, and they would not attack Israel.
Trump: "We will just be quiet"
Trump said he had not directly heard from Iran about the suspension of talks, but told NBC: "I think we've been talking too much, if you want to know the truth. I think being quiet would be very good, and that could be the case for a long time."
"That doesn't mean we're going to go and drop bombs all over the place. We will just be quiet. We maintain the blockade. Blockade is a piece of steel." Later, he said the talks were continuing "at a high pace."
Iran had announced that it would seek a "complete closure" of the Strait of Hormuz in response and also close the Bab el-Mandeb strait if the attacks on Lebanon continue. The Bab el-Mandeb strait between Yemen and Djibouti at the entrance to the Red Sea is a second critical sea route.
Control over the strait would allow Iran to threaten shipping heading to the Suez Canal and Mediterranean ports; the Iran-allied Houthi rebels have attacked ships there. Oil prices jumped and British stocks fell sharply after reports emerged that Iran would suspend peace talks with the US in protest over Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
Markets react, Iran sets conditions for an agreement
Brent crude oil rose by more than five percent to about $96 per barrel, amid fears that a failure of talks could lead to the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed. Despite Iran's threats, on Monday 15 merchant ships, including four tankers, sailed through the Strait of Hormuz with coordination and security measures from the IRGC, Iran claimed.
Meanwhile, Ebrahim Rezaei, the security spokesperson of the Iranian parliament, said any agreement must "allow everyone to judge Iran as the winner." If negotiations fail, Iran will return to battle "more honorably and powerfully prepared," he said.
Rezaei stated that the fundamental problem between Iran and the US is the end of the war. Other issues – including nuclear matters, the Strait of Hormuz, and frozen assets – are conditions for a ceasefire, not negotiating points. Earlier in the day, Trump said: "Just sit back and relax, in the end everything will turn out fine – it always does!"
(This article by Akhtar Makoii was produced in cooperation with telegraph.co.uk)
