‘Shouting match from hell’: Trump, Netanyahu clash over Iran war
Trump is giving diplomacy another chance while Netanyahu says only regime change can permanently remove Iran’s nuclear threat; the Prime Minister’s Office denies reports the two leaders shouted, calling the account ‘fake news, complete nonsense’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call over the weekend that focused largely on Iran, against the backdrop of disagreements between Jerusalem and Washington over whether to renew the war against the Islamic Republic. Sources familiar with the conversation described it as an unusually difficult and heated exchange, with one source calling it “a shouting match from hell.”
“Fake news, complete nonsense,” Netanyahu’s office said in response to claims of a shouting match between the two leaders. A senior Israeli official confirmed that the call took place but likewise insisted it was “very much not a difficult conversation,” contradicting the accounts given by other sources.
Despite those denials, Netanyahu’s remarks in the Knesset on Tuesday underscored significant differences over Iran. While the Trump administration wants to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement with Tehran, Netanyahu believes the nuclear threat cannot be permanently eliminated without the fall of the Iranian regime. Whether and when to resume strikes on Iran has emerged as a central point of tension between the two sides.
Speaking during the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset, Netanyahu warned that Iran was working to rebuild its nuclear threat and said regime change in Tehran was, in his view, the only permanent solution. “Iran is working to renew the nuclear threat. The only way to permanently remove this existential threat is by toppling the ayatollah regime,” he said.
Trump, during his interview with 60-minutes, dismissed the nuke talk, saying that Iran's enriched Uranium is now dust, buried under a mountain, alluding to harsher economic sanctions on Iran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call over the weekend that focused largely on Iran, against the backdrop of disagreements between Jerusalem and Washington over whether to renew the war against the Islamic Republic. Sources familiar with the conversation described it as an unusually difficult and heated exchange, with one source calling it “a shouting match from hell.”
“Fake news, complete nonsense,” Netanyahu’s office said in response to claims of a shouting match between the two leaders. A senior Israeli official confirmed that the call took place but likewise insisted it was “very much not a difficult conversation,” contradicting the accounts given by other sources.
Despite those denials, Netanyahu’s remarks in the Knesset on Tuesday underscored significant differences over Iran. While the Trump administration wants to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement with Tehran, Netanyahu believes the nuclear threat cannot be permanently eliminated without the fall of the Iranian regime. Whether and when to resume strikes on Iran has emerged as a central point of tension between the two sides.
Speaking during the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset, Netanyahu warned that Iran was working to rebuild its nuclear threat and said regime change in Tehran was, in his view, the only permanent solution. “Iran is working to renew the nuclear threat. The only way to permanently remove this existential threat is by toppling the ayatollah regime,” he said.
Trump, during his interview with 60-minutes, dismissed the nuke talk, saying that Iran's enriched Uranium is now dust, buried under a mountain, alluding to harsher economic sanctions on Iran.
