World
Trump calls Netanyahu a ‘warrior PM,’ touts ‘great’ ties with Israel amid tensions over Iran
US President Donald Trump on Friday praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an apparent attempt to calm tensions after repeatedly criticizing the Israeli leader in recent days over the IDF’s conduct in Lebanon.
“We fought very well with Israel, and we’ve had a great relationship with Israel,” Trump said in remarks at the unveiling of a new Air Force One plane that was gifted to the United States by Qatar.
Reviewing the recent war against Iran, Trump touted Washington’s Gulf allies for “fighting with us” as well as “warrior prime minister” Netanyahu.
“They should give him credit,” Trump said of Netanyahu. “We really fought hard with Israel.”
The US agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding with Iran this week to permanently end the war between them and launch 60 days of talks — an agreement that has sparked alarm in Jerusalem.
The deal mandates a ceasefire in Lebanon, and Iran has demanded that Israel withdraw, but Israel has vowed to keep its troops in a buffer zone in the country’s south to protect border towns from Hezbollah rocket and drone fire. Israel has insisted that it is not beholden to the MOU and that it will not pull its troops out of southern Lebanon, a stance Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Friday, arguing that the buffer zone is necessary to protect citizens in the north from Hezbollah attacks.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire on Friday afternoon, after another flare-up in southern Lebanon. But the renewed truce appeared as fragile as ever.
Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter wrote on X. “If Hezbollah honors the agreement and ceases its hostilities, they will be met with quiet.”
It’s unclear if or for how long Iran will accept the deal, given that the issue wasn’t just Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah but also the IDF’s presence in southern Lebanon that Tehran has argued violates the MOU, which stipulates “an immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
Trump says he’s prepared to resume bombing Iran if the talks don’t advance, but in the same breath admits that he’d rather not restart the war because that would lead Tehran to again close the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have an agreement… and it’s 60 days. They have to make a deal, otherwise we will do things that won’t make them happy,” Trump said Friday.
“I don’t think it’s going to get to that. I think it’s going to be very good. Remember, if we do [bomb Iran], then all of a sudden you’re not going to have the oil flowing out of the strait too quickly,” Trump continued. “Because people that own billion dollar ships don’t love missiles flying over them, don’t love mines all over the water.”
The Washington Post reported Friday that a US intelligence analysis has warned that Netanyahu is expected to take actions in Lebanon that will undermine the Trump administration’s push for a lasting peace with Iran.
Citing current and former US officials, the report said US intelligence agencies assess that Israel seems determined to continue fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, while the deal signed this between Iran and the administration calls for a cessation of military operations.
The analysis reportedly states that ahead of Knesset elections in the fall, Netanyahu’s political fate depends on him maintaining Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, and that he wants to ramp up Israeli attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, an administration official told the Post anonymous that Israel’s insistence on maintaining troops in Lebanon “is a recipe for disaster.”
“Without a full Israeli withdrawal, the likelihood of resumed hostilities between the [Israeli military] and Hezbollah is all but certain,” he said.
At the same time, Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu has invited his close confidante and former top aide, Ron Dermer, to recent consultations in an effort to calm ministers pushing for intensive military action against Hezbollah.
“This is a real emergency,” Dermer, a former Israeli ambassador to the US who has worked to forge close ties between Netanyahu and the Trump administration, was quoted as saying. “The situation isn’t easy; we cannot make it worse. Trump can’t perceive Israel as being responsible for efforts to reach a final deal with Iran failing.”
The network also cited an unnamed minister lashing out at the US president, referring to him as “the ginger” while calling for tougher action after four soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, saying that if Israel doesn’t act now, “we won’t succeed [in doing so] later.”
“This is the time to formulate the rules of the game, before they are ultimately formulated for us.”
Channel 12 also reported that some officials in the Trump administration are working to establish informal channels of communication with Israel’s opposition, including the leading contenders to replace Netanyahu in the upcoming election, former prime minister Naftali Bennett and former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot.
The report said the figures, including some with close ties to the Israeli leader, have increasingly been sending out feelers to build relations. it cited growing concern over hard-right members of the Netanyahu government seen as extremists; frustration with the inability to advance various diplomatic agendas with the current government, which has been stained internationally due to its conduct in the war in Gaza; and an acknowledgment that Netanyahu could very well lose the coming election, which is to take place in October at the latest.
Earlier Friday, prior to the new truce, the IDF announced that four of its soldiers had been killed overnight after a suspected drone or anti-tank missile struck their tank in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Tebnit.
Israel responded by carrying out 150 strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon, with Netanyahu declaring in a statement that the IDF had killed dozens of Hezbollah terrorists in those strikes.
The Lebanese health ministry later said that the Israeli airstrikes killed at least 47 people and wounded 97 others.
The dead included at least seven women and two children, it said, though the figures did not otherwise differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
