President Donald Trump cursed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a roughly 15-minute phone call on Monday, multiple sources familiar with the call told ABC News. The president was angry about Israel’s escalation in Lebanon and its potential to derail his administration’s ongoing negotiations with Iran.
Trump accused Netanyahu of being ungrateful and called him “crazy.” At one point during the call, Trump asked Netanyahu, “What the f— are you doing?”
The call came as Iran threatened to suspend talks over Israeli conduct in Lebanon, where the Israel Defense Forces are engaged with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that “the Iranian negotiating team will suspend ‘talks and the exchange of texts through mediators.'”
What’s actually going on
Trump had just made edits to a proposed peace plan and sent it to Iran for consideration. Then Israel escalated operations in Lebanon. Behind the scenes, the president told senior administration officials he wanted to speak with Netanyahu, furious that the escalation could derail any progress made in the talks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did not confirm the suspension report, but posted on X that “a ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon.” The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps added that Iran “considers crossing the red lines in Lebanon and Gaza to mean direct war.”
Trump brushed the warnings off publicly, insisting he “couldn’t care less.” Privately, he was livid.
The BuzzyTimes take
At some point, the art of dealmaking involves controlling the table. Trump has positioned himself as the architect of a breakthrough with Iran. He has framed his approach as transactional genius. He has promised his base that his personal relationships with world leaders would deliver results other presidents could not.
And yet, in the span of a single day, the administration went from editing peace plans to issuing expletive-filled ultimatums to a key ally whose actions could blow the whole thing up. Netanyahu’s public statement after the call read like a polite acknowledgment followed by a declaration that Israel would continue doing exactly what it planned to do anyway. Trump then posted a victory lap about turning troops around, which may or may not have actually happened.
After Monday’s call, Netanyahu released a statement saying he told Trump that if Hezbollah does not stop attacking Israeli cities and citizens, Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut. He added, “Our position remains the same. At the same time, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.”
Later on Monday, Trump posted on social media that talks with Iran were continuing at “a rapid pace.” Then, hours later, the president struck a much different tone. “I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi!”
This was not the first time Trump and Netanyahu have had a tense conversation. Trump’s frustrations with Netanyahu have boiled over in previous instances where Israel has taken action against Iran and its proxies. But Monday’s conversation further underscored the administration’s distress over the potential that its ongoing negotiations with Iran are being undermined.
What we’re watching
The question is not whether Trump can secure a deal with Iran. The question is whether he can secure one while Netanyahu is making independent decisions that actively contradict the terms Trump is negotiating. Iran has now publicly stated that any ceasefire must include all fronts, including Lebanon. Israel has publicly stated that it will continue operations in southern Lebanon regardless.
Trump has framed his Iran strategy as a restoration of leverage. But leverage requires coordination. If Israel escalates in Lebanon and Iran walks away from talks, Trump is left holding a peace plan nobody signed and a phone call nobody took seriously.
The administration is betting that it can manage both Iran and Israel simultaneously. The evidence so far suggests that bet is harder to collect on than the president would like his base to believe.
Can Trump actually control Netanyahu’s next move, or is the Iran deal already on life support?
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