President Donald Trump has publicly acknowledged using expletive-laden language against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call this week, confirming that he told the Israeli leader he was "fucking crazy" over Israel's escalating military campaign in Lebanon. Speaking on the New York Post's "Pod Force One" podcast in an interview broadcast Wednesday, Trump said he was "a little bit perturbed" by Israel's continued fighting with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia operating in southern Lebanon and its suburbs. "At some point I said, 'Bibi, we gotta stop this,'" Trump told the podcast. Despite the explosive language, he insisted the relationship remained warm. "I like Bibi a lot. I work very well with him."

The call, which took place on Monday, came at a particularly sensitive moment in US diplomatic efforts to end the broader regional conflict with Iran, now in its fourth month following initial US and Israeli strikes on Tehran in late February. Iran responded to Israel's intensified strikes on Lebanon by threatening to suspend indirect negotiations with Washington, describing the ceasefire as violated "on all fronts." Tehran has insisted that any enduring truce with the United States must also include a halt to fighting in Lebanon — a demand that puts Washington and Jerusalem at cross-purposes. Trump acknowledged that the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global oil and gas shipments, could remain disrupted through September's Labor Day holiday, though he expressed optimism that a deal could materialise "fairly quickly."

Netanyahu, speaking on CNBC on Wednesday, dismissed talk of a serious rift. "Sometimes we have, as in the best of families, these tactical disagreements," he said. "We always find a way to work them out." Trump, for his part, also rejected suggestions that Netanyahu had manipulated him into the Iran conflict, saying emphatically: "He tricked me? I'm the one that started it" — citing his long-standing concern about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, which dated to his withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal during his first term.

Analysts, however, caution that the episode reveals a genuine divergence of interests. "Netanyahu has a long history of doing his own dance, irrespective of what he has heard from Washington," said Brett Bruen, a former US diplomat and crisis communications specialist. Natan Sachs, an expert on US-Israeli relations at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, noted that while the two leaders share the overarching goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Israel's determination to press its campaign against Hezbollah complicates Trump's diplomatic agenda. The situation on the ground remained tense, with Israeli strikes continuing around Tyre and Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, and a separate strike hitting a car near Beirut's southern outskirts on Wednesday, hours before the second day of US-brokered talks between Lebanon and Israel were due to resume in Washington.

The public airing of the dispute is notable given the historically close bond between the two leaders, which stretches back to the 1980s and reached a high point during Trump's first term, when Washington recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and brokered the Abraham Accords normalising ties between Israel and several Arab states. Netanyahu has routinely called Trump the "greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House." Yet Trump has a well-documented history of eventual frustration with Netanyahu — as have several of his predecessors. Whether this latest clash represents a temporary irritation or a deeper shift in the relationship, analysts say, remains to be seen. "It's potentially significant," Sachs said. "I would not rule out that the president has changed his mind about many people in the past."}