Iran-US war latest: Trump ‘calls Netanyahu crazy’ in furious call as Hezbollah agrees to halt attacks – UK Times

US president Donald Trump reportedly lashed out at Benjamin Netanyahu during a heated telephone conversation over Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Lebanon.

The US president is said to have told Netanyahu, “You’re f***ing crazy” because of its recent strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to one US official who summarised the call to Axios.

Trump also yelled at Netanyahu, asking: “What the f*** are you doing?”

Another source privy to the discussion summarised part of Trump’s comments as “everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” Axios reported.

Following the exchange, Netanyahu’s office released a statement asserting that Israel’s position “remains the same”.

‘Republican lawmaker Sheri Biggs defended president Donald Trump’s war on Iran and told Americans they should leave the country of they don’t support the move.

The South Carolina representative was asked if she thinks the Iran war will overshadow the midterms in November, to which she declared that the “bottom line is … Iran cannot have nuclear weapons”.

She told Newsmax: “The president is putting America first, and it’s not about politics. This is about the security of our nation. And the hypocrisy is overwhelming.”

“It’s OK for a Democrat president to try to address the issues in Iran, but it’s not OK for President Trump or the Republican majority to try and address this?” she asked.

“It’s complete hypocrisy. We have to put America first. And as I’ve said before, if you don’t love this country, get out.”

Oil prices held on to most of the previous session’s sharp gains in early trade on uncertainty over the status of ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran and the potential reopening of the ​Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude futures inched up 6 cents, or 0.06 per cent, to $95.04 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate fell 17 cents, or 0.18 per cent, to $91.99 a barrel.

Both benchmarks rose more than 5 per cent in the previous session but pared gains after ​US president Donald Trump said he had not been told that Iran was suspending talks with Washington and that Israel ​had agreed to pull back any troops that were preparing to attack southern Lebanon.

New Zealand has joined partners including Australia and the EU in imposing travel bans on three “extremist Israeli settlers”, the foreign minister said.

Winston Peters, in a statement this morning, said Itamar Yehuda Levi, Harel David Libi, and Eliav Libi “actively worked to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank”.

“The actions of these individuals threaten peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians and drive the region further into crisis,” he said, adding that New Zealand’s policy is to support a two-state solution for Palestinians.

“This action is against three individuals whose use of violence and displacement is destabilising the West Bank,” Peters added.

US president Donald Trump has yet again criticised the American media in a late-night post on Truth Social over their coverage of the Iran war.

The president wrote: “If Iran surrenders, admits their Navy is gone and resting at the bottom of the sea, and their Air Force is no longer with us, and if their entire Military walks out of Tehran, weapons dropped and hands held high, each shouting ‘I surrender, I surrender’ while wildly waving the representative White Flag.

“… and if their entire remaining Leadership signs all necessary ‘Documents of Surrender,’ and admit their defeat to the great power and force of the magnificent U.S.A., The Failing New York Times, The China Street Journal (WSJ!), Corrupt and now Irrelevant CNN, and all other members of the Fake News Media, will headline that Iran had a Masterful and Brilliant Victory over The United States of America, it wasn’t even close.

“The Dumacrats and Media have totally lost their way. They have gone absolutely CRAZY!”

The Israeli military early this morning said that it intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel, and that no injuries were reported.

The statement comes as hostilities in southern Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March, continued last night despite US president Donald Trump announcing a ceasefire.

The Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on 2 March as an offshoot of the broader conflict and has been entangled with it ever since.

Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue military operations in southern Lebanon, where ground forces are pushing towards the Zaharani River, ​their deepest incursion ⁠in Lebanon in 25 years.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah ‌said the militia would support a full ceasefire across all Lebanon as a precursor to the withdrawal of Israeli troops. He did not say whether the group would stop its strikes on Israeli territory.

Lebanon said it would seek to expand the ceasefire in talks with Israel in ‌Washington on Wednesday.

Lebanon has announced a partial ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in what 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.

According to Lebanon’s embassy in Washington, the agreement would not end the conflict in that country. But it calls for Israel to refrain from strikes on Beirut and its suburbs controlled by Hezbollah, while the Iran-aligned group would halt its attacks on Israel.

US president Donald Trump, who first announced the agreement, said Hezbollah, through intermediaries, had ​pledged not ⁠to attack Israel. No US president has ever spoken with Hezbollah, with or without intermediaries.

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has responded to Donald Trump telling Americans he’s “in no hurry” to end the Iran war.

“If you’re gonna be in a hurry, you’re not gonna make a good deal”, the US president told Fox News Saturday. “Slowly, but surely, we’re getting, I think, what we want. And if we don’t get what we want, we’re gonna end it a different way”.

Schumer criticized Trump’s comments Monday evening, Washington time: “No hurry?”

“Tell that to our troops in harm’s way. Tell that to their families. Tell that to the Americans getting crushed by record gas prices at the pump.

“We will not stop fighting to end this war once and for all”, he wrote on X.

Gas prices have soared during the Iran war after Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil passageway in the Middle East.

The average cost for a gallon of gas in the US currently sits at around $4.32. Gas prices were more than $5 per gallon in June 2022 under the Biden administration.