A big news is coming amid the ceasefire in Iran war. US President Donald Trump had a “tense” phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, according to a US and Israeli source familiar with the talks.
The talks took place just before Israel announced that it would try to pursue direct cease-fire talks with Lebanon. Such a claim is being made in the American media.
An Israeli source told American media that Netanyahu understood that if he did not initiate direct negotiations with Lebanon, Trump would probably declare a ceasefire outright.
This was at least the third conversation between the two world leaders this week, in which Lebanon was a key issue. On Tuesday, the two leaders held talks before Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran. According to an Israeli source, Netanyahu had lobbied Trump to keep Lebanon out of the scope of the ceasefire with Iran.
A day later, talks took place again between the two leaders. Trump had asked Netanyahu to reduce attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon after Israeli strikes on Wednesday killed 303 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Netanyahu’s office said ‘fake news’
Only after the third meeting on Thursday, Netanyahu announced the start of direct talks. However, Netanyahu’s office said that describing the conversation with Trump as “tense” was “fake news”, and that the conversation was entirely “cordial”. “The two leaders are working in perfect coordination and with full respect for each other,” the office said. The White House did not respond to comment on the matter.