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Trump, Netanyahu trade barbs
President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah had “agreed” to end their attacks on each other, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later issued a statement that made no mention of a new cease-fire and said “This position of ours remains.”
NBC News reported that Trump told Netanyahu there would be “no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” after Trump said he had a “very productive” call with Netanyahu.
AFP via France 24 said Trump reportedly called Netanyahu “crazy” in a phone call over Israel’s threats to bomb Beirut, and Axios quoted Trump shouting, “You're fucking 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.”
The New York Times said Lebanon’s government issued a statement saying it had “received confirmation that Hezbollah had agreed to the U.S. proposal for a mutual cessation of attacks,” while Netanyahu appeared to back off an immediate threat to strike the southern outskirts of Beirut.
U.S. seeks de-escalation
NBC News said the Lebanese Embassy in Washington reported Hezbollah had accepted the terms of a U.S. proposal for a “mutual cessation of attacks,” which would also block Israel from attacking Beirut.
In the same NBC report, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that the U.S. military had disabled a Botswana-flagged tanker headed toward Kharg Island, and CENTCOM said “The ship’s crew ignored repeated warnings, failing to comply with directions from U.S. forces multiple times over a 24-hour period.”
Euronews reported that, according to Axios, Trump told Netanyahu, “You're f****** crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
The New York Times described how diplomats at the United Nations Security Council called for Israel to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon and refrain from threatened escalatory attacks, with the fighting in Lebanon seeming poised to worsen earlier in the day.
Cease-fire and regional risk
The New York Times said Iran insisted that any truce apply also to Lebanon, and it cited two senior Iranian officials saying Iran had warned the United States through intermediaries it would suspend negotiations if Israel attacked southern Beirut.
Time Magazine reported Trump pushed back against reports that peace talks had stalled and said, “Fake news reports that the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the U.S.A., stopped speaking a few days ago are false and erroneous,” while also saying “The conversations between us have been going on continuously.”
NBC News said the attack on the Botswana-flagged tanker “places additional pressure on a shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran,” and it quoted CENTCOM that a U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room.
France 24 reported that Trump’s reported tirade underscored “the increasingly shaky ties between two right-wing allies,” and it quoted former ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro saying, “The fact of personal tensions between Netanyahu and US presidents is not new.”
