Trump confirmed he used expletives during a conversation with Netanyahu over attacks on Lebanon

US President Donald Trump stated that he used expletives during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, as the US President attempted to de-escalate hostilities in Lebanon and continue peace talks with Iran, UNN reports citing Bloomberg.

Details

"I did," Trump said in an interview with the Pod Force One podcast, responding to a question about whether he directed expletives toward Netanyahu, widely known as Bibi, and called him crazy.

As CNN notes, Trump also stated he was "perturbed" by Israel's plans to conduct military operations in Lebanon while the US is working on a peace deal with Iran.

"I wouldn't say angry," Trump indicated.

"I was a little bit perturbed at him constantly fighting with Lebanon," Trump said, as quoted by Bloomberg in the podcast that aired Wednesday. "At some point, I said: ‘Bibi, we have to stop this.'"

Trump stated that the two leaders have a "very good relationship" and they "work very well together," CNN points out.

Trump added that he "likes Bibi very much" and, as Bloomberg writes, denied that the Israeli leader "tricked" him into attacking Iran.

"I’m the one that started it," Trump said. "I started it because they can’t have a nuclear weapon."

Trump said that if he hadn't started the war with Iran, "there would be no Israel."

"Now, that pertains to Israel because they probably would have been the first one to get hit. There would be no Israel," he said.

This statement differs from the one the administration made at the start of the war, when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the US feared an imminent Israeli attack with a strong retaliatory strike from Iran, CNN notes.

The call took place on Monday, after Iran threatened to suspend talks with the US and tighten restrictions on maritime shipping through the Strait of Hormuz due to Israeli threats to bomb Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

Axios was the first to report details of the call, which an Israeli official briefed on the matter later confirmed to Bloomberg.

Israel is fighting Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. They have been targeting cities in the north of the Jewish state with drones, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes, shortly after the US and Israel began bombing Iran in late February.

Subsequent Israeli strikes on Lebanon and its ground invasion, as Bloomberg notes, have killed over 3,000 people and led to the forced displacement of more than a million people. Hezbollah is one of the world's most powerful non-state actors and is designated as a terrorist organization by the US.

Trump, who also spoke with Hezbollah representatives on Monday, stated that the Islamist group and Israel agreed to stop firing at each other, and Israeli forces refrained from raids on Beirut.

Following the conversation between Netanyahu and Trump, hostilities in southern Lebanon continued. However, Israel refrained from strikes on Beirut, and Hezbollah's drone attacks on Israel itself decreased.

Netanyahu told Trump of Israel's right to strike threats in Lebanon25.05.26, 00:16 • 4516 views