US President Donald Trump had a heated phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday over Israel's bombardment of Lebanon, with Trump reportedly calling Netanyahu 'crazy' and accusing him of being ungrateful.
According to Axios, citing US officials and a source briefed on the call, Trump referred to Netanyahu as 'crazy' and accused him of being ungrateful, saying 'You're f**king crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your a*s. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.'
Earlier in the day, Iran had warned it could pull out of negotiations with the US in response to Israel's actions in Lebanon, and Trump warned Netanyahu that Israeli threats to strike Beirut would deepen Israel's global isolation.
Netanyahu released a statement after the call saying he'd told Trump that Israel would attack targets in Beirut if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israel, but a second US official quoted by Axios claimed that, in reality, Trump had 'steamrolled' Netanyahu on the call.
Lebanon later announced a partial ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel on Monday, which would amount to a limited de-escalation of a conflict that has killed thousands of people and inflamed the broader US-Israeli war with Iran.
