Trump warns Netanyahu: âYouâll be on your ownâ if attacks on Iran continue
Trumpâs warning comes as Israel and Iran pause attacks and indirect talks to reach a peace deal continue. Iran halts further attacks on Israel unless
Trumpâs warning comes as Israel and Iran pause attacks and indirect talks to reach a peace deal continue. Iran halts further attacks on Israel unless Lebanon is targeted United States President Donald Trump has warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he might find himself fighting on his own if Israel returns to war with Iran. The warning on Monday came as Israel and Iran said they would pause attacks following their most serious escalation since a ceasefire took effect in April. Trump, who has reportedly grown increasingly exasperated with Netanyahu, demanded that both sides stop âshootingâ in a post on his Truth Social platform and said that âfinal negotiationsâ towards peace would proceed âsubject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its wayâ. He also called Netanyahu and told him to stop the strikes, according to media reports. In an interview with Axios, Trump said he had warned Netanyahu about the consequences of continuing the war. âI said, âBibi, you better be careful, or you will be on your own very soonâ,â Trump said. The flare-up began on Sunday, triggered by Israelâs deadly bombardment of Lebanonâs capital, Beirut. Iran â which has long said any peace deal with the US depends in part on an end to the fighting in Lebanon â responded with a wave of missiles at northern Israel. Trump reportedly called Netanyahu on Sunday evening and asked him not to retaliate, but Israel launched attacks on Iran early on Monday.
Israeli forces struck Iranian air defence systems and a petrochemical plant, while Iran retaliated by hitting a similar facility in Haifa and targeting two Israeli airbases. Many of the missiles were intercepted over the occupied West Bank. No deaths were reported on either side. Israel plays down tensions The exchanges complicated Trumpâs push to end a war that the US and Israel launched on February 28. A ceasefire announced on April 8 paused all-out warfare. But flare-ups in the Gulf have continued. For his part, Netanyahu said in a televised statement that he had told Trump that âIsrael has a full right to self-defence, and we are exercising it as requiredâ. âRight now, the fire at the front is contained, because after we hit the terrorist regime in Tehran, it stopped attacking us,â he said. Netanyahu also warned that should Iran âmake the mistake of resuming attacks against us, we will respond with full forceâ. Israelâs ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, downplayed reports of tension between the US and Israeli leaders, telling Fox News that âsometimes, lovers have a spatâ. He said that while Netanyahu had âdecidedâ to âlower the temperatureâ at Trumpâs request, the US president understands âfull wellâ that Israel cannot âabsorb ballistic missiles into our country without responding.â Iranâs Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, blamed Washington for the escalation. âThe US is directly responsible,â he said.
