Donald Trump said on Sunday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept any deal the US negotiates with Iran because, according to him, the US President “calls the shots”.
Hours after Trump said so in an interview, Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying in a statement on X that its Air Force struck “military targets” in western and central parts of the Islamic Republic.
“He won’t have any choice. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots. I call the shots. I call all the shots,” Trump told the Financial Times in a telephone interview.
Trump spoke shortly after Iran launched a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel over its attacks in Lebanon in the most serious breach of the ceasefire that was struck in early April.
Trump told Netanyahu not to retaliate against the missile attack and to allow more time for diplomacy during a call, Axios reported, citing a senior US official and an Israeli source familiar with the details. The Republican also told Axios before the call that he planned to urge Netanyahu not to retaliate against the missile attack, which Iran said was a response to an Israeli strike in Beirut earlier on Sunday.
Fresh escalation between Israel and Iran
The Israeli military reported at least three waves of incoming missiles on Sunday, saying its air defences were “currently identifying and intercepting threats”. The Israeli military later said that all Iranian missiles were intercepted.
Iran’s military central command said that Israel’s latest strike on Beirut suburbs had “crossed all red lines” and demanded a halt to its campaign in Lebanon.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and its chief negotiator in talks with the US, accused Washington of having given a “green light” for the Beirut attack, saying US and Israeli assets were now “legitimate targets”. However, the senior US official cited by Axios said that the Donald Trump administration didn’t give a “green light” to the Israeli strike in Beirut.
