US President claims Hezbollah agreement and halt to Israeli attacks on Beirut
Updated ,first published
Washington: Donald Trump said after his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel stopped planned attacks on Lebanon’s capital Beirut, which threatened to derail the ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
It was learned that the meeting between the two leaders was heated US news source Axios He said Trump attacked the Israeli prime minister with an expletive-laden call.
Israel’s plans to target Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, appear to have triggered Trump’s harsh response; Two US officials told Axios that the US president called Netanyahu “crazy” and ungrateful.
One official summed up Trump’s call to Axios this way: “You’re crazy. If it weren’t for me, you’d be in jail. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. That’s why everybody hates Israel.”
Another official told Axios that during the call, Trump asked Netanyahu, “What the hell are you doing?” He said he shouted.
Netanyahu said on Monday (US time) that he told Trump that Israel would attack “terrorist” targets in Beirut if Hezbollah did not stop its attacks on Israeli cities.
“At the same time, the Israeli Armed Forces will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to the Israeli army.
On Monday, Trump also claimed Hezbollah had agreed to a full ceasefire and insisted talks with Iran were continuing at a “rapid pace” despite reports in Iran’s state-run media suggesting Tehran had suspended talks due to escalating violence.
Although Trump’s comments calmed prices in afternoon trading, the price of oil edged closer to US$100 a barrel as hopes for a meaningful “deal” to end the three-month conflict and the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz faded.
Earlier, Israel had warned residents of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs, to evacuate, and Netanyahu said he and Defense Minister Israel Katz had instructed Israeli forces to launch attacks on “terrorist targets” in the area.
Netanyahu told
Despite the ceasefire, Israel launched a land invasion with its soldiers. They are carrying out their deepest attacks on Southern Lebanon over a quarter of a century.
Trump, who previously told media organizations that he would call Netanyahu to ask “What is going on in Lebanon?”, claimed on social media that the attack in Beirut would not continue, although he referred to soldiers instead of air strikes in his posts.
“I had a very productive meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, and no troops will be going to Beirut, and any troops that go have already been turned away,” Trump said, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
“Likewise, I had a very good meeting with Hezbollah through their senior Representatives, and they agreed that all attacks would stop, that Israel would not attack them, and that they would not attack Israel.”
Details of that were not immediately clear. Netanyahu had warned of an attack on Hezbollah targets in the region, not a land attack on southern Beirut.
Meanwhile, US news site Axios reported that the speaker of the Lebanese parliament told the Trump administration that Hezbollah is ready for a full ceasefire with Israel.
In a separate post on social media, Trump said, “Talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran continue rapidly. Thank you for your interest in this issue!”
But the President delivered an entirely different message in brief telephone interviews with various US media outlets on Monday (Washington time); He said talks with Iran were becoming boring and it might be beneficial to stay away from the negotiating table for a while.
“I honestly don’t care if they end. I couldn’t care less,” Trump told business broadcaster CNBC. He added that the talks were “getting very boring.”
Speaking to NBC News by phone, Trump said the possible collapse of peace talks does not mean the United States will start dropping bombs again.
“If they don’t want to talk, that’s fine with me,” he reportedly said. “I think it’s okay. I don’t particularly want to talk either. We talk too much.”
The puzzling developments come just days after Trump publicly announced that he had made a final decision on a memorandum of understanding that would end the war and begin a 60-day period of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
But on Friday he wrapped up a national security meeting aimed at revising key parts of the agreement and insisted he would not make a bad deal with Iran.
Tasnim, Iran’s semi-official news agency close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had previously said that Iran suspended the negotiations due to the increase in US and Israeli attacks during the ceasefire.
This was not stated openly by the Iranian foreign ministry. On the contrary, he stated that Iran considers any violation of the ceasefire as a violation on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and warned that the United States and Israel will bear the responsibility for the consequences.
US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces in Kuwait were successfully intercepted on Monday.
This follows defensive attacks on Iranian radar and drone command and control sites over the weekend in response to what Centcom said was Iran’s downing of an American drone.
There is growing frustration among some of Trump’s allies and confidants with his handling of the issue and the administration’s failure to broker a better deal with Iran.
Laura Loomer, a MAGA internet activist who has 2 million followers and has the president’s ear, said Trump risks “tarnishing his record of power” by continuing to give Iran more chances.
“It is time to kill every single IRGC member and end all negotiations,” he wrote to X. “The only negotiation left with these Islamist terrorists should be whether they want to be shot in the head and killed or killed in a drone strike. Enough. Let’s get this over with.”
AP via Reuters
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
