President Donald Trump said Wednesday that while he maintains a good relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he has grown frustrated with Israel’s ongoing military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. During an appearance on the Pod Force One podcast with The New York Post’s Miranda Devine, Trump acknowledged calling Netanyahu “[expletive] crazy” during a phone call Monday.
“I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon,” Trump said. “We’ve worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him.”
The United States and Israel launched joint attacks against Iran on Feb. 28, shortly before Israel also began exchanging fire with Hezbollah. The cross-border fighting has complicated cease-fire negotiations with Iran, which has insisted that Israel end its operations in Lebanon as a condition for any agreement.
Trump brokered a partial cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, but the agreement has been fragile. The two sides exchanged fire as recently as Tuesday. The U.S. president said he was frustrated by the continued conflict but expressed confidence that a deal with Iran would be reached “fairly quickly.”
Netanyahu, in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, addressed the relationship between the two leaders. He said that while they have “tactical disagreements” about how to handle the conflicts, they “agree on many things.”
The public airing of frustration comes amid a volatile regional landscape. The U.S. has conducted multiple rounds of defensive strikes on Iran since the February offensive, and diplomatic efforts to secure lasting cease-fires across multiple fronts have produced only partial and short-lived agreements.