U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” during a phone exchange over fighting in Lebanon. The call came as the U.S. was attempting to broker an end to hostilities involving Iran.
In an interview broadcast on Wednesday, Trump was asked whether he had called the longtime Israeli leader "effing crazy" and accused him of ingratitude, paraphrasing a report by Axios.
"I did," Trump told the "Pod Force One" podcast. "I wouldn't say angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon, you know."
He said he and Netanyahu get along very well and recalled telling him, “Bibi, we got to stop this.”
Netanyahu, asked about the Axios report, declined to offer details of the conversation but said his relationship with Trump had not changed.
"We have common goals. Sometimes we have, as in the best of families, you have these tactical disagreements," he said in an interview on CNBC on Wednesday.
"He's been the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House, and he respects me; I respect him. We always find a way to work out our differences."
Iran has said it will not agree to a deal with the United States to end the war launched in late February unless any ceasefire also includes Lebanon.
Hostilities have continued despite a U.S.-mediated agreement announced on Monday that led Israel to step back from attacking the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israeli drone strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon and targeted a car south of Beirut on Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said. Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.
Trump said Israel would have been in a much worse position if he had not withdrawn from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal brokered under Barack Obama. He argued that Iran’s nuclear programme has since advanced and that his decision helped protect Israel’s security.
After Trump withdrew from that deal during his first White House term in 2018, Iran produced stockpiles of near-weapons-grade highly enriched uranium, which Trump now demands it relinquish.
Trump's critics say Iran is now closer to making a nuclear weapon, and it will be hard for Trump to negotiate a better deal.
Trump has used expletives about Israel in the past, including publicly saying last year that Israel and Iran "don't know what the fuck they are doing."
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Armenia has every right to choose Europe. But Europe’s support for Armenia’s direction should not become automatic approval of its political process.
Iran said no final decision has been made on a proposed agreement with Washington, despite suggestions from U.S. President Donald Trump that a deal could soon be signed in a European capital.
The United States and Canada have postponed the opening of the $4.7 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, just days before a planned inauguration, amid ongoing bilateral discussions.
SpaceX has made history with the largest initial public offering ever in the United States, pricing its shares at $135 each and achieving a market valuation of $1.77 trillion.
SpaceX made a historic entrance into the Nasdaq on Friday, surging over 20% in its first day of trading and lifting its valuation to more than $2 trillion. Investors flocked to the world’s largest IPO, betting on Elon Musk’s sprawling empire spanning rockets, AI and beyond.
Pakistan has warned that any attempt by India to block or significantly reduce river flows under the Indus Waters Treaty could have “far-reaching consequences”, after India's water minister said New Delhi was working to ensure that “not a single drop” of water reaches Pakistan in the coming years.
Armenia has every right to choose Europe. But Europe’s support for Armenia’s direction should not become automatic approval of its political process.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said a peace agreement with Iran is scheduled to be signed on Sunday in a post on social media, despite Tehran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei saying no deal would be approved this weekend.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said a peace agreement with Iran is scheduled to be signed on Sunday in a post on social media, despite Tehran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei saying no deal would be approved this weekend.
The United States and Iran have traded fresh strikes, with the U.S. hitting military sites and Iran launching missiles and drones at bases and ships near the Strait of Hormuz. Shipping remains active, but tensions are rising as calls grow for restraint and renewed talks.
Iran has strongly condemned the renewed U.S. attacks on Thursday as a violation of the UN Charter, saying Washington has rendered its ceasefire deal struck in April with Tehran meaningless.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to seize Kharg Island and other major Iranian oil and gas facilities, escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran.
U.S. forces say they have completed strikes on Iranian military sites near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded with missile attacks on an American base in Jordan, marking a sharp escalation in tensions between the two sides.
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