Washington, DC: United States President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a telephonic conversation, asking him to scale back his military offensive in Lebanon. Trump blamed Netanyahu for increasing negative sentiment towards Israel across the world.
The confrontation was triggered after Iran issued a warning earlier that day, threatening to halt diplomatic engagements with Washington over ongoing military actions in Lebanon. This prompted an aggressive intervention from the US President, who at one point yelled at Netanyahu, “What the f*** are you doing?”
According to a US official cited by Axios, Trump expressed immense frustration over what he perceived as a disproportionate military response to Hezbollah’s strikes on Israel.
The report noted that the US President strongly objected to the destruction of entire buildings to target an individual Hezbollah commander, whilst also taking issue with Tel Aviv’s escalating threats against Beirut.
Another source privy to the discussion summarised part of Trump’s comments as “everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” Axios reported.
Following the volatile exchange, Netanyahu’s office released a statement asserting that Israel’s position “remains the same”.
However, a US official told Axios that Trump had actually “steamrolled” the Israeli Prime Minister during the call.
Axios quoted the official as saying, “Bibi said, ‘OK, OK, just make sure everything is taken care of.'”
An additional administration official remarked that the interaction stood out as one of Trump’s worst calls with Netanyahu since the commencement of his second presidential term.
Following the diplomatic dispute, the US President shared details of the outcome on social media. In a post on Truth Social, he claimed that Israeli PM had ordered troops to pull back from the region after he urged him not to carry out a major operation in Beirut.
Despite the tensions, Trump signalled that diplomatic efforts are still going on. In a post on Truth Social, he said talks with Iran were continuing “at a rapid pace.”
(with ANI inputs)
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