Netanyahu defies Trump as Iran, Lebanon drive wedge

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s open defiance in striking Iran against President Trump’s demands for a ceasefire adds to growing divisions between the U.S. and Israel over the way forward on the war in the Middle East.

Trump and Netanyahu have moved in lockstep in major military operations against Iran, and the president has delivered major actions benefiting Israel — moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli control over the Golan Heights and securing the return of hostages from the Gaza Strip as part of a ceasefire with Hamas. 

But Trump has increasingly demonstrated open frustration with Netanyahu as he seeks to broker a deal to end the Iran war, reportedly cursing at the Israeli leader for escalating hostilities in Lebanon last week and reportedly telling Netanyahu on a telephone call Sunday not to retaliate against Iranian drone strikes. 

“I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots,” Trump said in an interview Sunday with the Financial Times. 

But the president’s demand reportedly fell on deaf ears, with Netanyahu ordering a strike on Iran hours after Trump’s remarks. 

Israel was retaliating for Iranian missiles on the country’s north – the first Iranian attack on Israel since an April ceasefire took hold. That came after Israel struck Hezbollah in Beirut, with Tehran equating a strike on its proxy group as a violation of the ceasefire. 

“They thought they would fire at Israel from Lebanese territory and from Iran – and we would not act,” Netanyahu said in a statement Monday, translated from Hebrew. “That did not happen, and it will not happen. Not on my watch!” 

The Israel Defense Forces said on X that Israel struck seven new aerial defense systems across Iran and a petrochemical facility in southwestern Iran used for weapons production.  

Netanyahu said he told Trump that “Israel has a full right to self-defense, and we are exercising it to the extent necessary.”

On Monday, Trump posted on his social media site Truth Social that “Both sides, Israel and Iran, are looking to do an immediate........

© The Hill