US President Donald Trump told ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that it is “an open question" whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will run for re-election, wondering, “If Bibi even wants to continue."
"I don't know, he's had an amazing career. Does he want to continue? Because, you know he's a wartime prime minister. We will very shortly win the war one way or the other, and you know he's a wartime prime minister," Trump said, before adding, "That's okay, just like I'm a wartime president."
Karl, in a post on social media, noted the comments were made by Trump on Monday night, before he attended the NBA Finals game between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Gardens.
Trump also offered a slightly different version of his call with Netanyahu after Iran violated the ceasefire by firing missiles on Israel, saying he did directly ask him to hold off on attacking Iran.
Trump told Karl that he had said to Netanyahu, “I don't want to do anything that's going to hurt the deal, but I said, ‘You have to use your own judgment.’ Just go out and use your own judgment, but I don't want the deal to be hurt."
The President further told Karl that the Israeli counterattack on Iran Sunday was "unnecessary" but that he understood why Israel did it.
"They wanted to show retribution," he said. "When you get attacked, there really has to be retribution."