Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly engaged in what sources described as a “shouting match from hell” over how to proceed with the war in Iran.
Relations between the US president and Israeli prime minister have repeatedly come under strain as the conflict has continued, although Trump has remained a firm supporter of Israel.
The two leaders reportedly clashed over the weekend after Netanyahu pressed for military action to resume, while Trump continued to favor negotiations aimed at securing peace, according to Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth.
Speaking to CBS News’ 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said he had no desire to restart the strikes.
“Well, I’m not looking to. I don’t think there’s any reason to. I don’t think there’s any reason to,” he said.
Sources familiar with the conversation said the two men launched into an explosive phone call described as the “shouting match from hell.”
Representatives for Netanyahu angrily rejected the account, dismissing it as “fake news, complete nonsense.”
A senior Israeli official said the call was “very much not a difficult conversation.”
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly engaged in a “shouting match from hell” over the next steps in the Iran war
Relations between the president and prime minister have repeatedly come under strain during the war, though Trump has continued to back Israel
The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment.
The reported confrontation came as both leaders faced signs that their political control was weakening.
Trump’s Republican Party is expected to lose control of Congress in January after the “blue tsunami” midterm elections. Netanyahu, meanwhile, remained well short of the majority required to stay in office following Israel’s elections.
It was reportedly not the first dispute between the two leaders since they began a joint military operation against Iran.
In May, Trump and Netanyahu were said to have argued over whether to strike Iran during a “dramatic” overnight phone call. The conversation came hours after a failed plot to overthrow Tehran’s regime during the early days of the war was exposed.
Israel’s Channel 12 described the call as “lengthy and dramatic.”
Weeks later, reports emerged that Trump had called Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” in a phone conversation shortly before announcing a halt to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
In a post on Truth Social, the president said the Israeli prime minister had “turned his troops around” rather than carrying out a “major raid” in Lebanon on Monday.
Trump said the Israeli military and Hezbollah-aligned militia groups had both agreed to “stop shooting” at each other.
Trump and Netanyahu reportedly clashed after Netanyahu pushed to resume the war while the president continued to support negotiations aimed at peace
Former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, waves an Israeli flag after exit polls at his party headquarters on October 28
Trump tempered the announcement with a note of cautious optimism: “Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!”
Before that statement, the two leaders reportedly had a tense exchange during a phone call about the escalating confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
According to a source cited by Axios, Trump at one stage asked Netanyahu bluntly: “What the f*** are you doing?”
Trump then reportedly berated the prime minister, telling him he would be in prison without the president’s support.
“You’re f***ing crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” he allegedly said.
Two sources told the outlet that Trump accused Netanyahu of showing ingratitude and warned that following through on threats to bomb Beirut would further damage Israel’s position.
The sources suggested Trump believed Israel’s military actions were making it more difficult to reach a peace agreement with Iran.
Netanyahu later appeared to challenge Trump’s account of a ceasefire, warning that Israel would strike Beirut if Hezbollah continued attacking the country.
In June, Trump again claimed that “there would be no Israel” without him, while criticizing Netanyahu and accusing him of having “no f*****g judgment” during the conflict in Lebanon.
At the G7 summit in France, Trump told reporters that Israel’s war with Hezbollah had lasted too long and urged Netanyahu to act more responsibly in Lebanon.
“Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed,” he said during a bilateral meeting with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
“You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.”
Several weeks later, Trump criticized Netanyahu again before promising to destroy Iran’s last nuclear facility, which is located deep inside a mountain.
The president rebuked the Israeli leader after Netanyahu told reporters he would provide Trump with evidence that Iran was continuing to develop its nuclear program at the site, known as Pickaxe Mountain.
“Well, I don’t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved,” Trump told Fox News before meeting Netanyahu in the Oval Office.
Trump also warned Netanyahu to raise complaints privately rather than discussing them publicly.
“I heard Bibi announce that. I said, ‘Why didn’t you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world?’”
In recent months, however, the two leaders appeared to have repaired their relationship, with Trump taking credit for strengthening Netanyahu’s position in the elections.
He wrote: “When President Trump endorsed Bibi Netanyahu, the whole tide turned, and now, rather than a decisive defeat for a great prime minister, it looks like a big come-from-behind stalemate, or even a WIN for Netanyahu.”
Trump publicly endorsed Netanyahu on October 18, nine days before Israelis went to the polls, offering the country’s longest-serving prime minister his “complete and total endorsement.”
Netanyahu’s future in office nevertheless remained uncertain after Israeli President Isaac Herzog asked opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to form a new government.
Trump also said the United States would end its aid to Israel by the end of the year following an agreement with Netanyahu.
“They don’t need it. Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an [Abdul] El-Sayed when they don’t need it? They no longer need it, Israel is a thriving country,” Trump said in a Tuesday interview with Fox and Friends.
He added: “Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel $4 billion a year, and we made a deal months ago that we’re stopping.”
Trump said the aid would be “cut off at the end of the year,” while leaving open the possibility that Washington could provide support again if circumstances changed.
“Now we’ll help Israel if they need it. You know they’ve been a great ally,” he said.
Trump also said Netanyahu understood that US aid to Israel had become a Democratic campaign issue for candidates including Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel.
“The left uses the $4 billion payment — that everybody knows about, it’s no secret — as a signal of unfairness,” the president said.
“And we can’t allow that to happen. I don’t like that, because it’s too easy. It’s almost too easy a target. And Bibi and I have been talking, and we’ve agreed. He was very understanding of it.”
Although the $4 billion in aid is due to end, the United States will continue selling weapons to Israel.
