AGENCIES

Donald Trump’s telephone call Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became quite heated as the US president pressed the Israeli leader to scale back plans for military operations in Lebanon, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

Trump at points used “expletives” to convey his disapproval of the planned offensive, which threatened to upend his efforts to broker a preliminary agreement with Iran.

At one point, the president reminded Netanyahu of how he’d supported him in the past and warned him that bombing Lebanon could isolate Israel further, the sources said.

The White House didn’t comment on the acrimonious tone of the call, which was reported by Axios.

Trump wrote on Truth Social after speaking with Netanyahu that it was a “productive” call, and he claimed Israel and Hezbollah would stop attacking each other. He said Israeli troops would not move on Beirut.

Netanyahu said in his own statement that the Israeli military would keep striking southern Lebanon “as planned.”

Lebanon has become front and centre because Iran threatened to halt peace negotiations if Israel were to press into Beirut.

That was the impetus for the US president personally getting involved.

What he saw was a threat to what he is trying to accomplish, and that is a ceasefire and peace deal, an agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. That is the primary goal of the US president.

So, as a result, with Iran making threats to halt negotiations – that Donald Trump, by the way, says are moving along rapidly – this was something that was of grave concern.