US President Donald Trump has warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if Israel returns to war with Iran, it may end up fighting alone.
Monday’s warning came as Israel and Iran announced a pause in attacks following the most serious escalation of attacks since a cease-fire took effect in April.
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President Trump, who is reportedly increasingly angry with Prime Minister Netanyahu, called on both sides to stop “shooting” posts on the Truth social platform and said “final negotiations” for peace would proceed “despite ignorance and stupidity that may get in the way.”
Media reports said he also called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him to stop the attack.
In an interview with Axios, President Trump said he had warned Netanyahu of the consequences of continuing the war.
“I said, ‘Bibi, you better watch out or you’re going to be on your own soon,'” Trump said.
The flare-up began on Sunday, triggered by Israel’s deadly shelling of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Iran, which has long maintained that a peace deal with the United States depends in part on an end to fighting in Lebanon, responded by firing missiles into northern Israel.
President Trump reportedly called Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday night and asked him not to retaliate, but Israel launched an attack on Iran early Monday morning.
Israeli forces attacked Iranian air defense systems and a petrochemical plant, and Iran retaliated by attacking similar facilities in Haifa and targeting two Israeli air bases. Many of the missiles were intercepted over the occupied West Bank.
No deaths were reported on either side.
Israel eases tensions
The exchange complicated President Trump’s push to end the war that began on February 28 between the United States and Israel. A ceasefire announced on April 8th temporarily suspended all-out war. However, flare-ups continue in the Gulf region.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a televised statement that he had told President Trump: “Israel has the right of complete self-defense, and we will use it if necessary.”
“Currently, the fires on the front are extinguished, because after attacking the terrorist regime in Tehran, the terrorist regime stopped attacking us,” he said.
Prime Minister Netanyahu also warned that if Iran “makes the mistake of resuming attacks against us, we will respond with all our might.”
Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Ekiel Leiter, downplayed reports of tensions between the US and Israeli leaders, telling Fox News that “lovers sometimes quarrel.”
He said Netanyahu had “decided” to “lower the temperature” in response to Trump’s request, but that the president “fully” understood that Israel could not “absorb ballistic missiles into our country without responding.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai blamed the US government for the escalation.
“The United States is directly responsible,” he said. “They are parties to the ceasefire negotiations. Therefore, any violation of the ceasefire through the interception of ships (in the Strait of Hormuz), Israel’s targeting of southern Lebanon, or any other event would make the United States directly responsible for escalation in the region.”
Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said the operation against Israel, known as Nasr, or Victory, showed “a new level of deterrence against the mighty Iran” and forced Israel to “again beg for a ceasefire.”
Diplomatic efforts continue behind the scenes.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on X that Iran was still “at the negotiating table,” and Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeed Iravani said the United States and Iran were “presenting and exchanging views” toward an agreement through Pakistan’s mediation.
Iravani told The Associated Press that he hoped both sides would reach a “conclusion” “soon.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said efforts toward a peaceful diplomatic solution were underway “seriously and enthusiastically” and called for restraint “especially as the ultimate objective is about to be achieved.”
He also said the shootout between Israel and Iran was “a reminder of the dangers associated with a tenuous ceasefire and the intolerable consequences it can have.”
Attacks on Lebanon continue
Monday’s escalation also involved Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The group fired missiles at Israel in the early hours of the morning, declared a total ban on Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea, and warned that any Israeli movement would be considered a “legitimate military target.”
Late Monday, an air raid siren sounded in the Israeli port city of Eilat, and the military said a target believed to have been launched from Yemen.
Violence continues in southern Lebanon.
Israeli airstrikes killed five people in the city of Tire and seven in the Nabatiyeh area. The third attack in Marwaniyeh left two people dead, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
Phyllis Bennis, a research fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, said President Trump was trying to make it seem tougher on Israel than it actually was.
“If words and actions match, then those words can matter,” she told Al Jazeera.
“As long as they are sending billions of dollars directly to the Israeli military, and as long as they are protecting Israel from accountability at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, their words don’t mean much unless those actions change,” she added.
