BEIRUT (Realist English). Just hours before the historic signing of the US-Iran peace agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a strike on Beirut’s Dahieh district, prompting an angry reaction from US President Donald Trump, who called the Israeli leader’s actions a “total lack of judgment” and said the move had jeopardised the negotiation process.
Escalation on the Lebanon-Israel Border
On June 14, the day Trump had scheduled to sign the peace memorandum with Iran, the Israeli army carried out an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahieh, considered a Hezbollah stronghold. The strike was a response to the launch of three rockets from Lebanese territory toward northern Israel. Israeli military officials stressed that this was a “clear violation of the ceasefire regime” — a fragile truce that had been restored only a few days earlier after a meeting in Washington.
According to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), the bombing killed three people and injured at least 14. A five-storey building was destroyed. Hezbollah, for its part, confirmed the launch of rockets and drones at Israeli military positions in southern Lebanon.
Trump’s Reaction and the Controversial Phone Call
Donald Trump’s reaction was immediate and extremely harsh. In an interview with Axios, the US president expressed his displeasure in strong language. “Why the fuck did Bibi have to do this strike? I was just furious. He has no fucking judgment,” Trump said, according to the publication, which first reported the contents of the conversation.
In a public statement posted on his Truth Social network, the US leader was more restrained, but the message was the same.
“Today’s attack on Beirut should not have happened, especially on such a special day when we are so close to a peace agreement with Iran,” Trump wrote.
He described Hezbollah’s retaliatory attack, to which Israel responded by striking the capital, as “very small and meaningless,” adding that “no one was hurt, injured or killed.” According to Trump, the Israeli strike jeopardised the talks just hours before the agreement was due to be signed.
White House vs. Netanyahu’s Government
Trump said he had planned to sign the agreement with Iran on Sunday morning, but the Israeli strikes on Beirut delayed the event. He expressed confidence that the signing would still take place in the coming hours, and that Netanyahu, in his words, had no choice but to accept US terms.
Netanyahu’s government, for its part, made it clear that it would not tolerate any shelling of its citizens. The Israeli leadership also protested against Washington’s attempts to restrict the Israel Defense Forces’ freedom of action. According to Israeli media, the US side demanded not only a ceasefire but also the start of a troop withdrawal from Lebanon, which Netanyahu rejected.
The Iranian Factor: A Postponed Agreement
Trump also confirmed that he would inform Tehran of the need to refrain from retaliatory strikes against Israel, and expressed the view that the deal would still be beneficial to the Israeli side, as it would eliminate Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran, for its part, was refraining from immediate action but stated its intention to accept a deal that would include a ceasefire in Lebanon and demanded the unfreezing of $25 billion.
Trump’s position demonstrates a sharp cooling in relations between Washington and Tel Aviv and Washington’s desire to make peace with Iran at almost any cost, even at the price of harsh criticism of its strategic ally. The episode also vividly illustrates how a regional conflict can derail documents that seemed close to being signed.
