Trump lashes out at Netanyahu over Beirut strike, says Iran deal was delayed

President Donald Trump angrily criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night, saying Israel’s strike in Beirut’s Dahieh district disrupted a diplomatic deal he expected to sign within hours. In a live Fox News interview and in comments relayed to journalist Barak Ravid, Trump said he told Netanyahu, “What are you doing, damn it,” and insisted the Israeli leader acted without judgment.

Trump said he had warned Netanyahu not to launch further attacks on Hezbollah because of the impact on negotiations, and said he would also ask Iran not to fire at Israel. He repeated that Netanyahu had “no judgment,” and said he had told him plainly that he was “very unhappy” with the recent moves.

The president said he was informed that “Israel is attacking in Beirut” about an hour before the agreement was supposed to be signed with Tehran, and said, “I could not believe it happened. That is very bad.” He argued the Hezbollah fire had hit “in the middle of nowhere,” nobody was hurt, and questioned why Israel responded with what he called a “damn attack” in Beirut, which he said “really upset me.”

Trump said the assault pushed back the signing by several hours, but he still expected the deal to be completed later Sunday. He said the emerging agreement would be good for Israel because it would prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, allow 24-hour inspections of suspicious sites, and fully eliminate Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile. Iran, meanwhile, has said so far that no deal will be signed today.