'Crazy' phone call between Trump and Netanyahu complicates Iran talks

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. 'Crazy' phone call between Trump and Netanyahu complicates Iran talks17 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleBernd Debusmann JrWhite House reporter Getty ImagesDespite several public disagreements, Netanyahu has repeatedly called Trump Israel's "greatest" friend in Washington Donald Trump has become the latest US president to find himself at odds with Benjamin Netanyahu, after reportedly clashing with the Israeli prime minister over military action in Lebanon that has thrown Washington's Iran diplomacy into crisis. Tehran responded to Israel's strikes on Lebanon by threatening to suspend talks with the US - a potential setback to Trump's efforts to extricate himself from an unpopular war with Iran. Trump was asked by a journalist about an Axios report that he had called Netanyahu "effing crazy" and accused him of ingratitude during a phone call on Monday.

"I did," Trump told the Pod Force One podcast in an interview broadcast on Wednesday. "I wouldn't say angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with ​Lebanon, you know.

The Details

"Trump added: "I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him. "He would be far from the only US president to tangle with the Israeli PM.

The prime minister has a long history of testing the White House's patience - and of politically surviving any fallout. The latest reported clash came as Trump mulls a deal that would extend the US-Iran ceasefire and open the door to talks on the future of Tehran's nuclear programme. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz - a vital global shipping lane - is also at stake.

Netanyahu laughed off any suggestion of tensions with his American ally. "Sometimes we have, as in the best of families, you have these tactical disagreements," he told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday. "We always find a way to work them out, and we do so as great friends.

What Experts Say

"He added that the two can "disagree in the morning" and be in agreement by afternoon. Experts, however, cautioned that the call could point to frustration in the White House over the alignment of US and Israeli military and political goals nearly 100 days after they launched strikes on targets in Iran on 28 February. "Netanyahu has a long history of doing his own dance, irrespective of what he has heard from Washington," Brett Bruen, a former diplomat and president of crisis communications agency the Global Situation Room, told the .

"Trump… decided to take the plunge with him, and is now learning a really hard lesson about what happens when you get into war with a pretty mercurial leader that has an agenda which doesn't always align with your own priorities," he added. Traffic at a standstill as people flee southern BeirutBroadly, Netanyahu and Trump agree on the key US objective of preventing Iran from manufacturing or having a nuclear weapon. In Lebanon, however, those interests slightly diverge, with Israel vowing to target the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia even as US-Iran talks continue.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.