US President Donald Trump acknowledged criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “crazy” in a phone call that included profanity, saying he was “a little upset” that Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon was hampering peace talks with Iran.
But even as the US president acknowledged the tensions in an interview released on Wednesday, he insisted that his relationship with Netanyahu was strong and that they were connected, in part, because they were both “wartime” leaders.
“We worked very well together,” Trump told the New York Post’s “Pod Force One.” “I like Baby very much. I work with him very well.”
In an interview on US news channel CNBC, Netanyahu responded by saying that he and Trump sometimes have “tactical differences” but have “common goals” and “agree on key issues.”
“He respects me. I respect him. We always find a way to resolve our differences,” the Prime Minister said.
The president’s comments on Monday’s call offered a sign of the growing pressure he faces to resolve the Iran war as rising energy prices and economic uncertainty threaten Republicans’ midterm election prospects and hamper global trade.
The talks continued for weeks and were strained by Israel’s expanding war with the Iranian-backed armed group in Lebanon. The conflicts have become increasingly intertwined, with Iran insisting that any potential truce in the war there must also lead to a calming of the fighting in Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon renew the ceasefire
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and establish a number of “experimental” security zones inside Lebanon to prevent the entry of Hezbollah fighters.
In a joint statement issued after a fourth round of US-brokered talks at the State Department, the two sides said that the ceasefire “is conditional on a complete ceasefire by Hezbollah and the evacuation of all Hezbollah elements” from areas south of the Litani River. It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be established, but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army to take full control of those areas.
The statement added, “These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement.” “All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments.
They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage.
The latter refers to Iran, which supports Hezbollah and insists on stopping Israeli attacks on Lebanon as part of a preliminary agreement with the United States to end the conflict with Iran.
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Hezbollah did not participate in the Israeli-Lebanese talks held at the ambassadorial level in Washington since the beginning of last month.
The statement said: “All parties condemned Iran’s attacks on countries in the region, and the ongoing activities that undermine stability throughout the Middle East, both through support of proxies and all other acts of aggression.”
A new round of discussions is scheduled to be held during the week of June 22, with the aim of “reaching a comprehensive agreement.”
Trump does not commit to a timetable for ending the Iran war
Trump remained noncommittal on a timetable for resolving the Iranian conflict, saying that the Strait of Hormuz may remain closed through the Labor Day holiday on September 7. He insisted that Iran stop any efforts that could lead to a nuclear weapon and that the strait be reopened to shipments of oil and natural gas.
“I don’t know. I mean, I think it’s possible it could be (closed over Labor Day), but I think that’s unlikely. I think we’ll get it. I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly,” Trump said.
Trump added that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his late father, is “engaged” in peace talks.
“They have a lot of respect for him,” the president said in the interview.
Trump said Khamenei is not in good condition due to wounds he sustained in an airstrike, but “they say he’s giving approval because that’s been the case for a very long time.” Khamenei’s father was killed in an airstrike when the United States and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February.
In the Persian Gulf region, Kuwait briefly closed its main airport on Wednesday after Iranian drones struck the passenger terminal building, killing one person and wounding dozens. This was the latest in successive attacks by Tehran and Washington that have tested the ceasefire.
The path to a permanent ceasefire in Lebanon is obscured by new strikes
The path to a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah remained unclear as hostilities continued in Lebanon.
An Israeli raid on Wednesday hit a car on a busy highway south of Beirut, hours before the second day of talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington. The raid in Khaldeh came without warning, and it was not immediately clear whether the targeted person had been killed.
Israel and Lebanon on Monday reached a US-brokered agreement under which Israel will not strike the southern suburbs of Beirut and Hezbollah will halt its attacks on northern Israel.
The agreement was reached hours after Israel announced it would launch strikes across sprawling urban neighborhoods near the Lebanese capital in what could be the most intense strikes since a nominal ceasefire took effect on April 17.
Lebanon hopes to expand the scope of the ceasefire until it becomes comprehensive throughout the country. Israel wants to disarm Hezbollah immediately before the Israeli army ends its operations in Lebanon and withdraws its forces from dozens of villages and towns.
An Israeli military warning shakes a coastal city
Israeli raids continued on southern Lebanon, especially in and around the destroyed cities of Tire and Nabatieh. Two night raids near the coastal city of Tire resulted in the deaths of four Syrians and two Palestinians.
Israel warned Christian neighborhoods in Tire of the presence of Hezbollah members among them. Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims have fled to those areas in recent days because they survived aerial bombardments along the Mediterranean coast.
Following this warning, the Lebanese Army deployed to the Christian area of Tire in an attempt to prevent Israeli attacks there and to show that Hezbollah had no armed presence in the area.
Israel launched an invasion of southern Lebanon days after the outbreak of the latest war on March 2, when Iran-backed Hezbollah launched missiles toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran. Israeli forces have pushed deeper into Lebanon over the past week, where Hezbollah continues to claim responsibility for missile and drone attacks.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah led to the deaths of 3,468 people in Lebanon and the displacement of 1.2 million people.
According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 27 Israeli soldiers and defense contractors were killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians were also killed in northern Israel.
A bombing on the village kills most of the family members
Many residents of southern Lebanon remained in villages close to the hostilities or returned to areas where raids occurred after evacuation warnings.
The Abdullah family returned to their home in Marwaniyah, where they had left because they believed the village was unsafe after previous raids. A day later, two missiles hit the house, demolishing the three-story building and killing six family members, said the brother of Hassan al-Abdullah, who was killed.
Ahmed Al-Abdullah, 13 years old, was thrown from the building by the force of the explosions, and he was the only survivor from his family. His uncle, Issa Al-Abdullah, said that the boy had two broken legs and shrapnel injuries all over his body.
“What’s the point of talking now? They’re gone, and nothing will bring them back,” the uncle told The Associated Press in a phone call on Tuesday. “This land costs blood.”
