{"id":131657,"date":"2026-06-03T17:24:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T23:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-confirms-he-called-netanyahu-crazy-as-he-says-israel-is-complicating-peace-talks-with-iran\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T17:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T23:52:21","slug":"trump-acknowledges-calling-netanyahu-crazy-and-says-israel-is-complicating-peace-talks-with-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-acknowledges-calling-netanyahu-crazy-and-says-israel-is-complicating-peace-talks-with-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump acknowledges calling Netanyahu ‘crazy’ and says Israel is complicating peace talks with Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rescue
Rescue workers use an excavator, as they search for victims under the rubble of a building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BEIRUT (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump acknowledged criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> as \u201ccrazy\u201d in a phone call that involved expletives, saying he was \u201ca little bit perturbed\u201d that Israel\u2019s fighting with Hezbollah<\/a> militants in Lebanon was holding back peace talks with Iran.<\/p>\n

But even as the U.S. president conceded the tensions in an interview released Wednesday, he insisted that his relationship with Netanyahu was solid and that they connected, in part, because they are both \u201cwartime\u201d leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,\u201d Trump told The New York Post\u2019s \u201cPod Force One.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview on the American business-news channel CNBC<\/a>, Netanyahu responded that he and Trump sometimes have \u201ctactical disagreements\u201d but have \u201ccommon goals\u201d and \u201cagree on the main things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe respects me. I respect him. We always find a way to work out our differences,\u201d the prime minister said.<\/p>\n

The president’s comments about the Monday call offered a sign of the growing pressure he faces to resolve the Iran war as higher energy prices<\/a> and economic uncertainty threaten Republican prospects in the midterm elections and hamper global commerce.<\/p>\n

Talks have dragged on for weeks<\/a> and have been strained by Israel\u2019s broadening war<\/a> with the Iranian-backed militia group in Lebanon<\/a>. The conflicts have become increasingly intertwined as Iran insists that any potential truce in the war there must also quell the fighting in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Israel, Lebanon renew ceasefire<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of \u201cpilot\u201d security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement released after a fourth round of U.S.-mediated talks at the State Department, the two sides said the ceasefire \u201cis contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives\u201d from areas south of the Litani River. It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be established but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army to take full control of those areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement,\u201d the statement said. \u201cAll countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon\u2019s future hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hezbollah is not part of the Israel-Lebanon talks, which have been held at the ambassadorial level in Washington since the beginning of last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll parties condemned Iran\u2019s attacks on countries in the region, and ongoing activities that undermine stability throughout the Middle East, whether through support for proxies and all other acts of aggression,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

A new round of discussions will be held during the week of June 22 with an eye toward \u201creaching a comprehensive agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump does not commit to timeline for ending Iran war<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump remained noncommittal about a timeline for settling the Iran conflict, saying the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> might stay blocked through the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 7. He has insisted that Iran stop any efforts that could lead to a nuclear weapon and that the strait be reopened for shipments of oil and natural gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. I mean, I think it could be (closed through Labor Day), but I think it\u2019s unlikely. I think that we\u2019ll have it. I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei<\/a>, who succeeded his late father, is \u201cinvolved\u201d in peace talks, Trump added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a lot of respect for him,\u201d the president said in the interview.<\/p>\n

Trump said that Khamenei is not doing well due to wounds sustained in an airstrike, but \u201cthey say he\u2019s giving approval because that\u2019s the way it has been for a long, long time.” Khamenei’s father was killed<\/a> in an airstrike when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in the Persian Gulf region, Kuwait briefly shut its main airport<\/a> Wednesday after Iranian drones hit a passenger terminal building, killing one person and wounding dozens. It was the latest in the back-and-forth attacks by Tehran and Washington that have tested the ceasefire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Path to a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon is obscured by new strikes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The path toward a lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah remained unclear as hostilities continued in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

An Israeli strike Wednesday hit a car on a busy highway just south of Beirut. The strike in Khaldeh came without warning, and it was not immediately clear if the person targeted was killed.<\/p>\n

Israel and Lebanon on Monday reached a U.S.-brokered agreement in which Israel would not strike Beirut’s southern suburbs<\/a> and Hezbollah would end its attacks on northern Israel.<\/p>\n

The agreement was made hours after Israel announced that it was going to launch strikes across the sprawling urban neighborhoods near the Lebanese capital in what would have been the most intense strikes since a nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17.<\/p>\n

Lebanon hopes to widen the scope of the ceasefire so it becomes comprehensive across the country. Israel wants to disarm Hezbollah immediately before the Israeli military ends its operations in Lebanon and withdraws its troops from dozens of villages and towns.<\/p>\n

Israeli military warning rattles coastal city<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israeli strikes over southern Lebanon continued, especially in and around the battered cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh. Two overnight strikes near Tyre, a coastal city, killed four Syrians and two Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Israel warned the Christian neighborhoods in Tyre that Hezbollah members were among them. Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fled to those areas in recent days because they were spared from the aerial bombardment along the Mediterranean coast.<\/p>\n

After the warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks there and to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area.<\/p>\n

Israel launched an invasion of southern Lebanon days after the latest war was sparked on March 2, when Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran. Israeli troops have pushed deeper into Lebanon over the past week, as Hezbollah continues to claim rocket and drone attacks.<\/p>\n

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,468 people in Lebanon and displaced 1.2 million people<\/a>. According to Netanyahu\u2019s office, at least 27 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.<\/p>\n

Strike on village kills most of a family<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many residents of southern Lebanon remained in villages near the hostilities or returned to areas where strikes occurred after evacuation warnings.<\/p>\n

The Al-Abdallah family returned to their home in Marwanieyh, which they left because they thought the village was unsafe following earlier strikes. A day later, two rockets hit the home, bringing down the three-story building and killing six family members, said the brother of Hassan Al-Abdallah, who was killed.<\/p>\n

Ahmed Al-Abdallah, 13, was thrown away from the building by the force of the blasts and was the only member of his family to survive. His uncle, Eissa Al-Abdallah, said the boy has two broken legs and shrapnel wounds all over his body.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat good is talking now? They are gone, and nothing will bring them back,\u201d the uncle told The Associated Press in a phone call Tuesday. \u201cThis land costs blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Boak and Lee reported from Washington.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This version has been updated to correct that the Iran war began at the end of February, not March.<\/p>\n

\"A
A man removes debris of a building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A nurse treats an injured man at the damaged Jabal Amel Hospital, following Monday's Israeli airstrike that was hit a nearby building, in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Israeli
Israeli troops gather on the border with Lebanon in northern Israel, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariel Schalit)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Ariel Schalit)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"United
United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, second from left, is joined by third from left: State Department Chief of Staff Dan Holler, Sr., State Department Counselor and Director, Office of Policy Planning Michael A. Needham and United States Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, as they meet with Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh, at the State Department, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

workers use an excavator, as they search for victims under the rubble of a building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari)(AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari) BEIRUT (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump acknowledged criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-131657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131657"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131765,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131657\/revisions\/131765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131657"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=131657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}