Trump Criticizes Israel's Continued Strikes on Lebanon as US-Iran Deal Takes Effect

Tensions have flared between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's ongoing military operations in Lebanon, which Washington says violate a newly signed agreement with Iran to end hostilities across the region. The deal, formalized on Wednesday between Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, mandates a cessation of conflict on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israeli forces now control approximately 20 percent of Lebanese territory.

Trump publicly admonished Netanyahu during the Group of Seven (G7) summit in France on Tuesday, stating that the Israeli leader "has to be more responsible" in Lebanon and expressing dissatisfaction with the invasion and handling of Hezbollah. "I'm not happy," Trump said, referencing civilian casualties. "Too many people have been killed. And you do not have to knock down an apartment every time you are looking for somebody."

According to US media reports, Trump has privately berated Netanyahu, with Axios reporting on June 2 that the US president called Netanyahu "f***ing crazy" over the escalation in Lebanon, where nearly 4,000 people have been killed and 1.2 million displaced. The US president also condemned Israel's bombing of Beirut just moments before the Iran deal was finalized on Sunday, and Netanyahu and his cabinet have vowed not to withdraw from Lebanese territory.

Despite the public rift, experts note that such disputes between US and Israeli leaders are not unprecedented and have historically not altered long-standing US support for Israel. For instance, former President Barack Obama's 2015 nuclear deal with Iran drew fierce criticism from Netanyahu, yet the Obama administration subsequently awarded Israel a $38 billion military aid package—the largest in bilateral history. Analysts say the Trump-brokered ceasefire in Gaza gave Israel an opportunity to deepen its occupation of the Palestinian enclave.

Past confrontations, such as during the 1956 Suez Crisis when President Dwight Eisenhower forced then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to withdraw from Egypt, demonstrate that even severe clashes have been followed by sustained security cooperation. In the current context, Israel remains furious at the US-Iran deal, while Trump has reportedly pushed Netanyahu to accept the agreement, telling him, "Bibi, you can't fight the world."