Trump and Netanyahu in ‘shouting match from hell’ during Iran call – media
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a heated phone call with US President Donald Trump over the possibility of renewed military strikes against Iran, Ynet reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the conversation.
Several media outlets, including Axios, the Associated Press and the Financial Times, previously reported that Netanyahu had been urging Trump to resume military operations against Iran shortly after the US midterm elections. Republicans lost control of both the House and Senate in the November 3 vote, widely seen as a rebuke to Trump’s policies, including the unpopular war with Iran, which has driven up energy prices.
Ynet described the weekend conversation as unusually tense, with one source calling it a “shouting match from hell.” Netanyahu’s office dismissed the report as “fake news, absolute nonsense,” while a senior Israeli official confirmed that the call took place but denied that it had been confrontational.
Trump said on Sunday that he saw no reason to escalate the conflict with Iran, amid opposition to renewed strikes from Washington’s Arab allies in the region. He and US Vice President J.D. Vance have acknowledged that the Iran war contributed to the Republicans’ election defeat.
Nevertheless, Trump stood by his decision to launch the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran on February 28. “I did the right thing. I would have done it again,” he told the Wall Street Journal after the vote.
Netanyahu’s political future is also uncertain after his coalition failed to secure a parliamentary majority in Israel’s October 27 elections.
On Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog tasked Netanyahu’s main rival, former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, with forming a new government after parties representing 67 members of the 120-seat Knesset recommended him for the premiership, compared with 46 who backed Netanyahu. Eisenkot has 28 days to assemble a governing coalition, with a possible two-week extension.
The war has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies that normally carries around a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas trade. Trump has vowed to maintain the naval blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran has been attacking tankers using US-designated shipping routes, which Tehran considers illegal.
