US President Donald Trump has admitted that he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crazy in a heated phone call; the harsh remarks were prompted by Israel’s military action in Lebanon as the Americans try to end the war with Iran, the news agency Reuters writes.
In an interview on the podcast Pod Force One on the 3rd of June, Trump was asked if he called the Israeli leader “an effing crazy” and accused him of ingratitude. Trump admitted that he did, but he would not say that he was angry, but rather upset about all this constant fighting with Lebanon. The US president then stated that he has a good relationship with Netanyahu anyway.
According to the Axios report, which cited an anonymous US official, Trump told Netanyahu in a phone call that the Israeli was “fucking crazy” and would be in jail without Trump: “I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.” The president said in an interview that he told Netanyahu that this (war in the Middle East) has to stop.
Asked about the Axios report, Netanyahu declined to comment further on the conversation, but stressed that his relationship with Trump had not changed. In an interview with CNBC, Netanyahu said that he and the US president share common goals and, like in the best families, sometimes there are differences of opinion. “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,” the Israeli prime minister said.
Iran has said it will not agree to a US-proposed peace deal unless the ceasefire also extends to Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March. Tel Aviv has justified its military campaign in Lebanon as an effort to destroy the Iran-aligned Hezbollah terrorist group. Despite US efforts to normalize the situation, which led Israel to withdraw from attacks on Hezbollah-controlled suburbs of Beirut, the fighting in Lebanon continues.
On the 3rd of June, Israeli drone strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least six people and a car was hit in Beirut.
Trump was also asked whether Netanyahu had lured him into a war with Iran, which the American dismissed, saying that his critics were the real enemies. “I’m the one who started it. I started it because we can’t let them get a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. This is especially true for Israel, as it would be the first to be hit, and without Trump, Israel would no longer exist.
Trump has previously insisted that Israel would be in a much worse position if he had not withdrawn from the 2015 agreement with Iran, which was reached by then-US President Barack Obama and other world leaders. Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. In 2018, during his first term, Trump withdrew from the agreement, and Iran then began stockpiling enriched uranium, which the US president is now demanding it abandon. Trump’s critics have pointed out that Iran is now much closer to developing a nuclear weapon than before, and it will be difficult for the Americans to reach a better agreement.
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