Trump admits to rift with Israeli PM Netanyahu: "We had a clash"

 President Donald Trump said he maintains a strong working relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even after confirming he criticized him during a recent phone call.

Trump acknowledged an earlier Axios report that he called Netanyahu “f****** crazy” in a Monday conversation, saying he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon was hindering United States-led efforts to revive peace talks with Iran.

Trump has yet to show significant progress toward his goal of securing an agreement in which Iran abandons its nuclear weapons development and reopens the Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas shipments.

“We’ve worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,” Trump said on the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast.

Despite his past emphasis on pursuing peace, Trump framed his relationship with Netanyahu in terms of their shared leadership during conflict: “I’m a wartime president,” Trump said. “He’s a wartime prime minister.”

How Lebanon Fighting Is Straining US-Israel Relations

Tensions are escalating amid a collision between U.S. diplomatic efforts and Israel’s military campaign, with Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon threatening to derail fragile U.S.-Iran peace talks that hinge on a ceasefire on that front.

Iran has warned it could suspend or abandon negotiations if the fighting continues, while disagreements over Tehran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remain major sticking points.

At the same time, continued exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah, alongside broader regional instability and economic fallout tied to disrupted energy flows, have raised fears of a wider conflict—putting additional pressure on Washington to secure a deal while managing differences with its key ally in Israel.

Path to Lebanon Ceasefire Unclear as Strikes Continue

An Israeli strike hit a car on a busy highway just south of Beirut hours before a second day of talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington. The strike in Khaldeh came without warning, and it was not immediately known whether the target was killed.

Israel and Lebanon had reached a U.S.-brokered agreement Monday under which Israel would refrain from striking Beirut’s southern suburbs, and Hezbollah would halt attacks on northern Israel. The agreement came hours after Israel warned it could launch broad strikes across densely populated areas near the Lebanese capital, which would have marked its most intense bombardment since a ceasefire took effect on April 17.

The State Department said progress was made during the first day of talks on Tuesday, with Lebanon seeking to expand the ceasefire nationwide while Israel has insisted that Hezbollah disarm before it halts operations and withdraws troops from southern Lebanon.

Shortly after the Khaldeh strike, the Israeli military said it intercepted what it described as a hostile aircraft from southern Lebanon, without immediately attributing it to Hezbollah. Hezbollah has not claimed any cross-border attacks since the agreement.

Civilians Flee as Israeli Warning Targets Southern Lebanon

Israeli strikes continued across southern Lebanon, particularly around the cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh, with two overnight strikes near Tyre killing four Syrians and two Palestinians. Israel warned that Hezbollah members were present in Tyre’s Christian neighborhoods, where many Shiite Muslim residents had recently fled seeking refuge from airstrikes along the Mediterranean coast.

Following the warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian district in an effort to deter Israeli strikes and signal that Hezbollah does not have an armed presence in the area.

Israel launched its ground offensive in southern Lebanon days after the latest war began on March 2, when the Iran-backed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel. Israeli forces have pushed deeper into the country in recent days as Hezbollah continues to claim rocket and drone attacks.

The latest round of fighting has killed 3,468 people in Lebanon and displaced about 1.2 million, according to authorities. Netanyahu’s office said at least 27 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel.

Hezbollah’s use of hard-to-detect fiber-optic drones has inflicted damage on Israeli forces, which have struggled to counter the attacks.