President Donald Trump reportedly called his close ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “f-cking crazy,” for potentially upending Washington’s efforts to reach a preliminary peace agreement with Iran.
Axios reported on Monday that Trump scolded Netanyahu over Israel’s escalation of hostilities in Lebanon in an “expletive-laden” call, citing two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call.
“You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me,” a U.S. official told the news outlet Trump said to the Israeli leader. “I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
Another source briefed on the call told Axios that the U.S. President was “pissed” and at one point yelled to Netanyahu, “What the f-ck are you doing?”
Trump gave mixed signals Monday about the status of a peace deal with Iran, at one point saying in a public interview that he “couldn’t care less” if negotiations collapsed, while later posting on Truth Social that talks were “continuing, at a rapid pace.”
Semi-official state news agency Tasnim reported that Tehran was prepared to suspend talks with the U.S. on Monday after Netanyahu ordered an attack on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut in retaliation for alleged attacks on Israel by Hezbollah.
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’s response to Hamas’ attack. Hostilities have continued from both sides despite a November 2024 cease-fire as well as an April 2026 cease-fire.
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. “The ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Araghchi posted on social media. “Its 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.”
When Trump rang Netanyahu to urge him to hold off on bombing Lebanon’s 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’s escalation was framed as responsive to Hezbollah attacks but that the U.S. President felt the response was disproportionate.
Axios sources also said that Trump, in the call, claimed he helped keep Netanyahu out of prison. The U.S. President has vocally supported the Israeli leader amid domestic challenges Netanyahu faces—including an ongoing corruption trial.
Trump later described the call, in a post on Truth Social, as “very productive,” noting that he’d also spoken with representatives of Hezbollah and that both sides had agreed to not attack each other.
In a statement on Monday afternoon, the Lebanese Embassy in Washington said Hezbollah had accepted the terms of a U.S. proposal “for a reciprocal cessation of attacks.” Under the proposal, the statement said, “Israeli 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.”
The embassy added that Trump had contacted the Lebanese ambassador to the U.S., informing her that Netanyahu had agreed to the arrangement.
Netanyahu, in a post on social media, said in his own statement that Israeli forces will continue to operate “as planned” in southern Lebanon, and that he told Trump “if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens—Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut.”
Speaking to ABC News about the status of peace talks with Iran, Trump acknowledged that “there was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly.”
But some in Israel were roiled by Trump’s declaration of a partial ceasefire in Lebanon. Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, addressed Netanyahu on social media, saying that it was necessary to strike Hezbollah and that “This is the time to tell our friend, President Trump—'no'.”
