Trump loses patience with Netanyahu as Iran war nears ceasefire

Donald Trump’s wartime alignment with Benjamin Netanyahu was starting to crack just as the fighting with Iran moved toward a ceasefire. After nearly four months of joint U.S.-Israeli military pressure on Iran, the two leaders were no longer united by a common offensive goal, and the split was widening over Lebanon, Hezbollah and who would pay the political cost.

The campaign against Iran had begun on Feb. 28, 2026, but it did not deliver Netanyahu the outcome he had wagered on: the collapse of Iran’s clerical rulers and a political boost at home. Instead, Washington and Tehran agreed to halt the war under an initial 60-day ceasefire period while fuller terms were negotiated, and Israeli officials privately called the preliminary arrangement “terrible for Israel.” The deal left Netanyahu facing the prospect of a ceasefire that could freeze Israel’s freedom of action while unresolved security concerns lingered.

Trump had already begun signaling impatience with Netanyahu in an angry phone call at the start of June, when he reportedly called the Israeli prime minister “fucking crazy” and ordered him not to strike Beirut while the U.S. was trying to secure a deal with Iran. Netanyahu initially called off the attack that day, but later hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, drawing Iranian missile fire on Israel and a public rebuke from Trump. By the time the two men reached the G7 summit in France on June 16, Trump was warning reporters that Netanyahu had to be “more responsible with respect to Lebanon” and that fighting with Hezbollah could throw a “negative light” on the U.S.-Iran agreement.

Trump’s criticism sharpened as he framed the Lebanon front as a distraction from the broader settlement he wanted. He said Israel should have finished the Lebanon operation faster, described the war with Hezbollah as a “minor” conflict compared with Iran, and said he had suggested letting Syria deal with Hezbollah instead. A day later, he revived an old grievance, accusing Israel of pulling out of a 2020 operation to kill Qassem Soleimani, a reminder that the Trump-Netanyahu relationship has long swung between close coordination and bitter public disputes.

The political damage was visible in Israel. A Channel 12 poll found 71% of Israelis did not trust Trump to look out for them in the Iran deal, while only 11% said Israel won the war. Most respondents said Netanyahu’s conduct harmed Israel’s interests in the agreement. Planned U.S.-Iran talks in Switzerland for June 19 were then postponed or canceled amid renewed fighting in Lebanon, leaving Trump’s effort to lock in a wider settlement under strain and Netanyahu’s leverage in Washington more uncertain than it had been at the start of the war.