According to Axios, and via ElMundo, US president Donald Trump had reportedly harshly reproached Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a call over the recent strikes on Lebanon, attacks which, as reported yesterday, could make the current ceasefire collapse.
The report states that Trump erupted at Netanyahu, angrily accusing the Israeli prime minister of making the current crisis worse, isolating Israel globally and, again, jeopardising US efforts to keep peace talks with Iran alive.
The alleged call appears to reflect the frustration in Washington with Israel's recent escalation. According to the report, Trump wanted and actually pushed Netanyahu to call of a planned major strike on Beirut, warning that bombing the capital would further damage Israel's international standing. Allegedly literal quotes from the call were as follows:
"You're fucking crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this." With a second source adding that at one point Trump yelled: "What the fuck are you doing?"
However, Trump's public messaging remains contradictory. In separate comments, he said he did not care if peace talks with Iran were over, then later claimed things were looking good and that a deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come in the next few days.