Trump confirms calling Netanyahu ‘f***ing crazy’ during their recent phone call
In interview, US president says he was ‘perturbed’ by ‘constant fighting with Lebanon,’ but he likes Israeli leader; asserts he would like to meet Iran’s new supreme leader
Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
US President Donald Trump confirmed that he called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “fucking crazy” during a phone call on Monday about Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah, but added that he respects Netanyahu and works “very well” with him.
Trump spoke about the call during an hourlong interview on the “Pod Force One” podcast, published Wednesday.
Asked by host Miranda Devine if he made the explicit comments, Trump replied: “I did.”
“I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon,” he said, while noting, “I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him.”
Trump’s expletive-laden rant at Netanyahu was first reported on Monday by the Axios outlet and later denied by Israeli officials.
Axios’s Barak Ravid cited a US official who summarized Trump’s message to Netanyahu as follows: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
Speaking in an interview on “Pod Force One” with the New York Post’s Miranda Devine, President Trump confirmed reporting by Axios about his tense phone call Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he reportedly said, “What the fuck are you doing?” Telling… pic.twitter.com/YU9PgAVI3R
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 3, 2026
The tense phone call came amid an escalating conflict in Lebanon, where Israel had threatened to strike the capital, Beirut, in response to deadly drone and rocket attacks by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group. Iran linked the spiraling situation to its own war with the US, claiming it would not continue to negotiate for a ceasefire if Israel didn’t back off in Lebanon.
Israel and the US launched a campaign against Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize the regime and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile capacities. Iran responded with missile and drone strikes across the region, and its proxies in Iraq and Lebanon also carried out attacks, with Israel launching massive airstrikes in Lebanon in response to the Hezbollah terror group’s rocket barrages on the north of the country.
During the interview, Trump again denied that Netanyahu had pushed him into the war, describing how he had heard some say that the Israeli prime minister “tricked” him into launching the campaign.
“I’m the one that started it, because, again, I don’t want to bore anybody, but, I started because we can’t let them [Iran] have a nuclear weapon. That pertains to Israel because they probably would have been the first one to get hit. There would be no Israel. If there wasn’t me, there would be no Israel.”
Trump on whether he was tricked by Netanyahu for Iran War:
I mean, I'm the one that started it.
I don't want to bore anybody, but I started it because we can't let them have a nuclear weapon.
There would be no Israel if there wasn't me. pic.twitter.com/VeVxQT68C6
— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 3, 2026
Trump also asserted Iran has agreed not to obtain nuclear weapons amid ongoing mediated talks with Tehran on a deal to end the war.
“We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve already agreed they’re not gonna have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
“They’ve agreed to that. They can change their mind, but that’s, that was one of the things they had to agree, they agreed to that – that was the big thing,” he said.
It was unclear in what form Iran ostensibly agreed not to have a nuclear weapon. The White House has confirmed reports that, under the memorandum of understanding being discussed between the sides, Iran will formally commit not to pursue nuclear weapons.
Trump said he believes that Iran’s newly elected supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is “involved, absolutely” in talks on ending the war and that “[Iranians] have a lot of respect for him,” though he declined to comment on reports that Khamenei was severely injured during Israel’s opening strikes in the war that killed his father, the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and other members of his family.
“I’d like to meet him,” Trump said, adding, “I’d love to meet everybody. I would like to meet him, and we probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out.”
The Times of Israel Community.