Trump Says Beirut Strike Should Not Have Happened as Iran Deal Nears

US President Donald Trump said he phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Israel struck Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut’s Dahieh district and asked, “What the hell are you doing?” Speaking to Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, Trump said he told Netanyahu not to carry out more strikes against Hezbollah so the emerging deal with Iran would not be derailed.

Trump said the agreement with Iran would be signed “within two or three hours” and said he would ask Iran not to fire back at Israel over the Dahieh strike. Israeli officials said earlier that Washington was exerting heavy pressure on Tehran to avoid retaliation. Trump had already posted on Truth Social that the strike, carried out in response to Hezbollah fire into Israeli territory, “should not have happened,” especially on what he called a special day when the sides were close to a peace deal with Iran.

In that post, Trump said Israel had the right to defend itself, but argued the response was to a “very small and insignificant” attack in which “nobody was injured or killed.” He said it should not disrupt a process that could bring peace to the region, including Lebanon, and warned there should be no further Israeli strikes anywhere in Lebanon, nor other attacks by Hezbollah, saying this could be “the beginning of a long and beautiful peace.”

Later, Trump told Axios the agreement was still expected to be signed despite the strike, though it had “shaken things up” and delayed the signing by a few hours. He said he was shocked when aides briefed him on the Israeli attack and angry at Netanyahu, adding, “Why did Bibi have to do the strike? I was so angry, and I let him know that too.” A source described as a diplomat told Fox News the Dahieh strikes complicated the draft memorandum and appeared to be a clear Israeli effort to disrupt the deal, while CNN reported that Israel had informed the United States in advance, with a source saying notice was sent to US Central Command, or CENTCOM, before the attack.