US President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Sunday not to retaliate against Iran's missile attack and allow more time for diplomacy, Axios’ Barak Ravid reported, citing a senior US official and an Israeli source familiar with the details of the call.
Trump told Axios before the call that he planned to urge Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran's missile attack, which Tehran said was a response to an Israeli strike in Beirut earlier Sunday.
Iran had said the missile barrage on Israel was a response to an Israeli strike against Hezbollah terror targets in Beirut earlier Sunday. The senior US official told Ravid that the Trump administration did not give a "green light" to the Israeli strike in Beirut.
The US official further stated that Trump told Netanyahu during the call to hold off because "we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal".
Netanyahu pushed back but ultimately "pseudo agreed" to stand down, the official told Axios.
The official further said Sunday's call was calmer than last week's tense exchange between the leaders and that Trump did not raise his voice at Netanyahu this time around.
"We think the president bought a little bit of time. He is pretty adamant that we are close to a deal with Iran. I don't think anything is imminent in terms of an Israeli strike," the US official stated.
"We are in a moment in time - that why jeopardize a potential deal when you are in the fourth quarter. The President thinks that we have been in this thing for three months - now is the time to end this thing," the American official told Axios.
Before his telephone conversation with Netanyahu, Trump gave an interview to the Financial Times in which he said that Netanyahu "won't have any choice" but to accept any deal the US secures from negotiations with Iran.
"I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn't call the shots," Trump told the newspaper, adding the Iranian missile strikes on Israel will not impact negotiations and that "the deal is going on."