Trump acknowledges calling Netanyahu 'crazy' and says Israel is
complicating peace talks with Iran
[June 04, 2026]
By KAREEM CHEHAYEB, MATTHEW LEE, JOSH BOAK and SARAH EL
DEEB
BEIRUT (AP) — President Donald Trump acknowledged criticizing Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “crazy” in a phone call that
involved expletives, saying he was “a little bit perturbed” that
Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon was holding back
peace talks with Iran.
But even as the U.S. president conceded the tensions in an interview
released Wednesday, he insisted that his relationship with Netanyahu was
solid and that they connected, in part, because they are both “wartime”
leaders.
“We’ve worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very
well with him,” Trump told The New York Post’s “Pod Force One.”
In an interview on the American business-news channel CNBC, Netanyahu
responded that he and Trump sometimes have “tactical disagreements” but
have “common goals” and “agree on the main things.”
“He respects me. I respect him. We always find a way to work out our
differences,” the prime minister said.
The president's comments about the Monday call offered a sign of the
growing pressure he faces to resolve the Iran war as higher energy
prices and economic uncertainty threaten Republican prospects in the
midterm elections and hamper global commerce.
Talks have dragged on for weeks and have been strained by Israel’s
broadening war with the Iranian-backed militia group in Lebanon. The
conflicts have become increasingly intertwined as Iran insists that any
potential truce in the war there must also quell the fighting in
Lebanon.
Israel, Lebanon renew ceasefire
Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and
create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which
Hezbollah militants would be banned.
In a joint statement released after a fourth round of U.S.-mediated
talks at the State Department, the two sides said the ceasefire “is
contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation
of all Hezbollah operatives” from areas south of the Litani River, which
is roughly 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the northern Israel-Lebanon
border. It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be
established but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army to take full
control of those areas.
“These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and
security agreement,” the statement said. “All countries reaffirmed that
the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be
decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by
any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage.”
Hezbollah is not part of the Israel-Lebanon talks, which have been held
at the ambassadorial level in Washington since the beginning of last
month.
“All parties condemned Iran’s attacks on countries in the region, and
ongoing activities that undermine stability throughout the Middle East,
whether through support for proxies and all other acts of aggression,”
the statement said.
A new round of discussions will be held during the week of June 22 with
an eye toward “reaching a comprehensive agreement.”
Trump does not commit to timeline for ending Iran war
Trump remained noncommittal about a timeline for settling the Iran
conflict, saying the Strait of Hormuz might stay blocked through the
Labor Day holiday on Sept. 7. He has insisted that Iran stop any efforts
that could lead to a nuclear weapon and that the strait be reopened for
shipments of oil and natural gas.
“I don’t know. I mean, I think it could be (closed through Labor Day),
but I think it’s unlikely. I think that we’ll have it. I think this will
resolve itself fairly quickly,” Trump said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his late father,
is “involved” in peace talks, Trump added.
“They have a lot of respect for him,” the president said in the
interview.
Trump said that Khamenei is not doing well due to wounds sustained in an
airstrike, but “they say he’s giving approval because that’s the way it
has been for a long, long time." Khamenei's father was killed in an
airstrike when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House for the first time approved a war powers
resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran,
defying Trump as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to end
the conflict.
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Rescue workers use an excavator, as they search for victims under
the rubble of a building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike
in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026.
(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
The roll call Wednesday was 215-208, but the next steps are
uncertain. Trump would likely reject any measure from Congress to
limit his commander-in-chief authority.
Path to a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon is obscured by new strikes
The path toward a lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah
remained unclear as hostilities continued in Lebanon.
An Israeli strike Wednesday hit a car on a busy highway just south
of Beirut. The strike in Khaldeh came without warning, and it was
not immediately clear if the person targeted was killed.
Israel and Lebanon on Monday reached a U.S.-brokered agreement in
which Israel would not strike Beirut's southern suburbs and
Hezbollah would end its attacks on northern Israel.
The agreement was made hours after Israel announced that it was
going to launch strikes across the sprawling urban neighborhoods
near the Lebanese capital in what would have been the most intense
strikes since a nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17.
Lebanon hopes to widen the scope of the ceasefire so it becomes
comprehensive across the country. Israel wants to disarm Hezbollah
immediately before the Israeli military ends its operations in
Lebanon and withdraws its troops from dozens of villages and towns.
Israeli military warning rattles coastal city
Israeli strikes over southern Lebanon continued, especially in and
around the battered cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh. Two overnight
strikes near Tyre, a coastal city, killed four Syrians and two
Palestinians.
Israel warned the Christian neighborhoods in Tyre that Hezbollah
members were among them. Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fled to those
areas in recent days because they were spared from the aerial
bombardment along the Mediterranean coast.
After the warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian
district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks there and
to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area.
Israel launched an invasion of southern Lebanon days after the
latest war was sparked on March 2, when Iran-backed Hezbollah fired
rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran. Israeli
troops have pushed deeper into Lebanon over the past week, as
Hezbollah continues to claim rocket and drone attacks.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed
3,468 people in Lebanon and displaced 1.2 million people. According
to Netanyahu’s office, at least 27 Israeli soldiers and a defense
contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two
civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.
Strike on village kills most of a family
Many residents of southern Lebanon remained in villages near the
hostilities or returned to areas where strikes occurred after
evacuation warnings.
The Al-Abdallah family returned to their home in Marwaniyeh, which
they left because they thought the village was unsafe following
earlier strikes. A day later, two rockets hit the home, bringing
down the three-story building and killing six family members, said
the brother of Hassan Al-Abdallah, who was killed.
Ahmed Al-Abdallah, 13, was thrown away from the building by the
force of the blasts and was the only member of his family to
survive. His uncle, Eissa Al-Abdallah, said the boy has two broken
legs and shrapnel wounds all over his body.
“What good is talking now? They are gone, and nothing will bring
them back,” the uncle told The Associated Press in a phone call
Tuesday. “This land costs blood.”
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Boak and Lee reported from Washington.
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