Trump confirms he asked Netanyahu for a more ‘low-key’ campaign against Hezbollah

US President Donald Trump confirms that he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call yesterday to scale back Israel’s bombing of Lebanon in order to preserve the fragile ceasefire with Iran.

“I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” Trump tells NBC News in a phone interview.

US Vice President JD Vance similarly claimed yesterday that Israel had agreed to “check itself” in Lebanon, even though yesterday saw the most intense day of IDF bombing in Lebanon since the beginning of the war.

Israel has claimed the majority of the over 200 killed — according to Lebanese authorities — were Hezbollah operatives, but footage shows that innocent civilians, including women and children, were among the casualties as well.

Trump tells NBC News he is still “very optimistic” about the chances for a longterm deal with Iran, as the sides to prepare to meet in Pakistan over the weekend — talks that Tehran has threatened to abandon, if Israel keeps bombing Lebanon.

Trump insists that Iran’s leaders “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable.”

“They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to. Remember, they’ve been conquered. They have no military,” Trump claims, even though Iran has continued firing at its neighbors since the ceasefire.

“If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be very painful,” Trump adds.