Trump asks Bibi to stand down; says 'close' to peace
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Live Events as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Addas a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel US President Donald Trump on Sunday said Iran's missile strikes on Israel and Israel's continued attacks in Lebanon would not derail his administration's peace negotiations with Tehran, even as the latest hostilities pushed oil prices sharply higher and threatened to unravel a fragile ceasefire that had held for two months.What triggered the escalationIsrael struck Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday without warning, in defiance of Washington's request days ago to stand down. Israel called it retaliation for Hezbollah firing toward northern Israel earlier in the day. A statement from Netanyahu's office said the strikes targeted "command centres" in the area. The strike on a residential building killed two people and wounded 20, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.Iran responded with a ballistic missile salvo. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted the Ramat David air base near Nazareth. The Israeli military said it identified the incoming missiles and that its defence systems had intercepted them, though it cautioned that "the defense is not hermetic," with sirens sounding across several areas of the country.The exchange marked the first time Iran had directly struck Israel since a ceasefire in the wider war took effect in April.Trump and Netanyahu spoke by phone for just under half an hour on Sunday, according to an Israeli official.
Trump told Netanyahu during the call to hold off from further strikes because "we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal," according to a US official quoted by Axios. The official said Trump had "bought a little bit of time."Shortly after midnight Monday, the Israeli military issued a brief statement citing Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, saying his forces had not been directed to attack Iran so far but would do so "with determination" once given the order.Five hours after Iran launched missiles at Israel, Netanyahu had not publicly commented on the attack.Trump insisted the latest exchanges would not affect negotiations. "It's not going to have any impact on the deal," Trump told the Financial Times. "I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn't call the shots," he said, referring to Netanyahu.Trump also issued a stark warning to Iran in a prerecorded interview that aired Sunday on NBC News' Meet the Press, marking 100 days of the conflict: "We're very close to a deal, or I'm going to blow the hell out of them."On the question of Israel's actions in Lebanon, Trump said he was "not happy" about the Beirut strikes.The latest hostilities drove oil prices up more than 2% in early trading on Monday, with benchmark Brent futures rising back above $95 a barrel. The wider war has been stalemated since the US and Israel paused direct strikes on Iran in early April, with Tehran blocking most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — the main transit route for roughly one-fifth of the world's oil — while Washington has maintained its own blockade of Iranian ports.Trump said he had expected an agreement to be signed on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of this coming week before Sunday's events.
The BriefWire