Benjamin Netanyahu calls off Lebanon raid after ‘heated’ call with Donald Trump

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - June 02, 2026 09:08 am IST - Washington File photo of U.S. President Donald Trump with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. | Photo Credit: Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump said he persuaded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off the strike on Beirut, following which the Israeli leader "turned his troops around". Mr. Trump made the announcement on Truth Social on Monday (June 1, 2026) evening amid reports that the conversation between the two leaders was “heated” and the U.S. President telling Mr. Netanyahu that he would have been in prison but for his intervention. "I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today (Monday), asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi," he said, referring to the Israeli Prime Minister by his widely used nickname. Mr. Trump’s phone calls with Mr. Netanyahu came after Iran threatened to end the negotiations with the U.S. over Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. Mr. Netanyahu had said Israel would hit "terror targets" in Beirut if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israel. The President said he also had a conversation with the representatives of the leaders of Hezbollah, who agreed to "stop shooting at Israel and its soldiers". "I also had a conversation with Representatives of the Leaders of Hezbollah, and they agreed to stop shooting at Israel and its soldiers. Likewise, Israel agreed to stop shooting at them. Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY," he said. U.S. media outlet Axios reported that tempers flew during Mr. Trump’s phone call with Netanyahu. "You're f•••ing 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," Axios reported, quoting an unnamed U.S. official. A second source told Axios that Mr. Trump was tensed and at one point yelled at Mr. Netanyahu: "What the f••• are you doing?" Another official told the outlet Mr. Trump had "steamrolled" Mr. Netanyahu during the call. "Bibi said, 'OK, OK, just make sure everything is taken care of'," according to the official. Earlier, Mr. Trump told NBC News that he had not been informed of the decision to suspend negotiations ahead of time, but "it's fine if they're done talking". "It's an appropriate thing to say, because they're better negotiators than they are fighters," he said in a brief phone call with NBC News. "But they haven't informed us of that. It doesn't mean we're going to go and start dropping bombs all over there," Mr. Trump said. The U.S. military and Iran exchanged strikes over the weekend and into Monday, threatening the nearly two-month-old truce agreed to by the warring sides. Despite the truce, Israel has been pressing ahead with a military offensive in Lebanon, with its forces marking their deepest incursion into the country in 26 years over the weekend. Israel-US strikes on Iran / Iran / Israel-Palestine Conflict / USA Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Benjamin Netanyahu calls off Lebanon raid after ‘heated’ call with Donald Trump

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Benjamin Netanyahu calls off Lebanon raid after ‘heated’ call with Donald Trump

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