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U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed he used foul language during a tense phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s fighting with Lebanon, the New York Post reported in an exclusive interview published Wednesday.
Trump said he was frustrated by Netanyahu’s threats to bomb Beirut and the possibility that the fighting could undermine U.S.-Iran peace talks.
Asked whether he told Netanyahu, “Are you f-ing crazy? What are you f-ing doing?” Trump replied: “I did.”
“I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Bibi, we gotta stop this.’”
Despite confirming the tense exchange, Trump said he maintains a strong working relationship with Netanyahu.
“We’ve worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,” Trump said.
“I’m a wartime president,” he added. “He’s a wartime prime minister.”
The reported exchange came after Israel threatened to bomb Beirut, raising U.S. concerns that escalation in Lebanon could disrupt talks with Tehran aimed at ending the wider Middle East war.
Axios and ABC News had earlier reported that Trump berated Netanyahu during the call over the Lebanon escalation.
Israeli media have rejected the account of the conversation.
A White House official referred AFP to Trump’s Truth Social posts from Monday, in which Trump thanked Netanyahu for what he described as an agreement to pull troops back from Beirut.
Trump said he was frustrated that fighting with Lebanon could derail a broader peace effort.
The New York Post reported that Tehran has insisted Israeli attacks on Hezbollah stop before any deal is reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and move toward dismantling Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran had reportedly halted peace talks because of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
Trump said he remained optimistic that a deal could be reached “fairly quickly.”
He said talks with Iran are “rapidly evolving” and added that “we’re not going to have a nuclear weapon and lots of other good things are going to happen.”
Trump also said a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz as early as this week.
However, he said it was possible the U.S. naval blockade around the waterway could remain in place through Labor Day, Sept. 7, though he called that unlikely.
“I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly,” Trump said.
Trump said oil prices had not risen as sharply as some had predicted.
“Everyone said it was going to be $300, $400 a barrel, it’s 98 dollars a barrel but that’s not a big price to pay if you look at the possibility of them having a nuclear weapon,” he said.
The New York Post said there had been several false starts in the U.S.-Iran talks, caused partly by alleged Iranian backtracking and the country’s dayslong courier process to avoid the assassination of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Trump said he was in no rush to complete the deal.
The president’s language with Netanyahu was first reported Monday by Axios and drew reactions from some defenders of Israel, including conservative commentator Mark Levin, who called on the FBI to investigate who provided the remarks to the outlet.
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