“Yes, I cursed,” Trump replied in an interview on the podcast “Pod Force One,” answering the question of whether he cursed B. Netanyahu, widely known as Bibi, and called him crazy.
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“I was a bit annoyed that he keeps fighting with Lebanon,” the US leader admitted on the podcast broadcast on Wednesday. “At some point I said: ‘Bibi, we have to stop this.’”
Trump added that he “really liked Bibi,” and denied that the Israeli leader “tricked” him into agreeing to attack Iran.
“I’m the one who started it,” the president emphasized. “I started it because they can’t have a nuclear weapon. If it weren’t for me, Israel wouldn’t exist now.”
The call in question took place on Monday, after Iran threatened to stop negotiations with the US and tighten restrictions on maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz due to Israeli threats to bomb the Lebanese capital Beirut.
The details of this conversation were first reported by the news portal “Axios,” which were later confirmed to Bloomberg by an Israeli official informed about the matter.
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In Lebanon, Israel is fighting against Tehran-backed “Hezbollah” militants. They launched drones at the northern cities of the Jewish state, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes shortly after the US and Israel began bombing Iran at the end of February.
Subsequent Israeli strikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon have claimed more than 3,000 lives and forced over a million to flee.
Trump, who spoke with Hezbollah representatives on Monday, said the Islamist group and Israel agreed to stop mutual shelling, and Israeli forces abandoned the planned shelling of Beirut.
After the phone call between B. Netanyahu and Trump, fighting in southern Lebanon continues. However, Israel has refrained from strikes on Beirut, and Hezbollah drone attacks against Israel itself have decreased.
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