US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a heated phone conversation on Monday amid military tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing peace process with Iran. After Iran threatened to suspend peace talks over Israel’s military operation in Lebanon, Trump pressed Netanyahu to limit attacks to preserve the deal. However, despite this temporary uncertainty, President Trump has insisted that talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a ceasefire with Iran are still moving forward and that a final deal is likely to be reached within the next week.
According to sources, the conversation was very intense and bitter. President Trump has used a number of offensive words to express his displeasure with Israel’s military plans. He reminded Netanyahu of his past support and warned that continued bombing of Lebanon would further isolate Israel from the world. Trump even called Netanyahu a “locked lunatic” and said the Israeli prime minister would have been in prison for so long without US support. The White House has not made an official comment, but Trump called the Truth Social talks “productive” and claimed that the Israeli army would not advance on Beirut.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has agreed to a US ceasefire proposal, the Lebanese Embassy in Washington said. According to the proposal, Hezbollah would also refrain from attacking Beirut if Israel prevented it. President Trump also claimed that his representatives had spoken with Hezbollah leadership and that they had agreed to a cease-fire. But Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have made it clear that their military operation in southern Lebanon will go ahead as planned. According to Netanyahu, if Hezbollah continues to target Israeli cities, the terrorist headquarters in Beirut will also be reopened.
The military escalation has also provoked strong reactions internationally and shocked global markets. Iran’s military headquarters issued a warning to residents of northern Israel to leave the military zone. In addition, Iran has threatened to close the Bab al-Mandab strait, a key gateway to the Suez Canal, prompting a sharp rise in crude oil prices on fears of disrupting global trade. The United States has released nearly 8 million barrels of crude oil from its emergency reserves (SPR) in recent weeks to deal with a supply crunch, raising the prospect that those stocks will fall to their lowest level since 1983.
Israel’s domestic politics are also in deep crisis amid this wartime situation. Netanyahu’s ultra-hardline coalition partners have expressed anger over his failure to pass a law exempting religious men from mandatory military service. A bill to dissolve the Knesset and call for early elections in September or October passed first reading 106-0. The bill will need two more readings to become law, which Prime Minister Netanyahu is likely to delay by several weeks for his own political interests.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has expressed deep concern over the dire humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. According to the latest World Food Program (WFP) report, about 1.24 million people in Lebanon are currently facing an acute food crisis and more than 150,000 people are receiving emergency food assistance every day. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Portugal strongly condemned Israel’s military action and called for sovereignty and an immediate diplomatic solution. Germany also expressed concern over the incident and urged both sides to ensure the safety of their citizens.
In the current situation, the geopolitical crisis in the Middle East has reached a critical juncture. On the one hand, behind-the-scenes talks between the US and Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and extend the ceasefire, on the other hand Israel’s military activity on the Lebanese border and Israel’s internal political unrest have pushed the entire peace process into an uncertain future.