US President Donald Trump lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a heated telephone conversation on Monday, holding the leader responsible for generating global animosity towards his nation, according to an Axios report.
The confrontation from the US 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 Trump, who at one point yelled at Netanyahu, "What the f*** are you doing?"
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Trump expressed immense frustration over what he perceived as a disproportionate military response to Hezbollah's strikes on Israel, a US official told Axios.
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.
Netanyahu's office released a reply 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.
"Bibi said, 'OK, OK, just make sure everything is taken care of'," Axios quoted the official as saying.
Trump then took to Truth Social to outline the immediate fallout of his intervention. He announced that Netanyahu had "turned his Troops around" after he explicitly asked the Israeli leader "not to go into a major raid of Beirut".
Showcasing his intent to keep the broader Middle East diplomatic track alive despite the friction, Trump wrote in a subsequent post that talks were continuing "at a rapid pace" with Iran.
