Trump called Netanyahu 'f—ing crazy' as rift deepens over Iran war

President Trump has repeatedly called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “f—ing crazy” in recent phone calls and accused him of trying to prolong the war with Iran, according to people familiar with the calls, as the U.S. and Israel diverge sharply over how to end the conflict.

In a recent call about Lebanon, where Israel has continued striking targets despite a ceasefire, Trump told Netanyahu he would be in prison without his support, according to people familiar with the call, whose details were earlier reported by Axios. Trump also asked Netanyahu, “Why are you blowing up buildings?” and told him to “Stop blowing up buildings,” the people said.

The relationship has major ramifications for a region on the cusp of a potential peace deal whose future could be undone by further Israeli military attacks. MSI previously reported that the rift was testing the fragile Middle East ceasefire, with the U.S.-Iran deal “largely negotiated” as of late May. Trump said May 23 that the deal and Strait of Hormuz reopening were “largely negotiated.”

Under a memorandum of understanding, Iran agreed to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. ending its oil blockade and allowing Tehran to sell its oil on the market. Both sides left the tougher negotiation on dismantling Iran’s nuclear work for the next 60 days.

Israeli officials were surprised by the ceasefire announced Thursday and had assessed that Trump was leaning more toward military strikes than a deal, according to Israeli officials. Israeli officials had been on standby for possible strikes, one person said.

“Donald, how are you going to verify that?” Netanyahu asked on one recent call about the nuclear weapons provisions of a potential deal, according to people with direct knowledge of the call. On other calls, he laid out reasons not to trust the Iranians over history, the people said.

Trump has told his advisers that no one can handle Netanyahu and that he wants to “bomb everyone,” according to a person who heard his comments.

A senior administration official with knowledge of Trump’s calls to Netanyahu said they usually entailed the Israeli leader arguing for more military action and said Trump had grown tired of it.

“Bibi tells the president why he needs to blow something up, and why Israeli intelligence knows how to do it, and when to do it, and the president listens,” the person said. “The calls are usually the same.”

As Trump has talked about needing to reopen the strait, Netanyahu has encouraged him to wait the Iranians out and make it continue to hurt, the official said. After hearing last week that Trump was going to sign a deal while sidelining Israel, Netanyahu requested an urgent meeting with him, a person familiar with the matter said. Israeli officials were shown a draft of the deal days later.

Trump said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal that Israelis would like the deal, even as they signaled otherwise and had not yet seen it. He said Netanyahu “asks for permission,” a public humiliation for the Israeli leader. “He calls us the big one, and he’s the little one,” Trump said.

The mercurial nature of their relationship has sometimes led to internal disagreements, with Netanyahu regularly seeking out Trump’s approval but sometimes striking targets first, administration officials said.

“Bibi is terrified that Trump will flip on him, but he also sees Trump as a guy who can be convinced of anything, including attacking Iran,” said Nathan Sachs, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

Netanyahu faces uphill elections in the fall, with polls showing him failing to secure a ruling majority. Trump had previously come to his aid, calling for him to be pardoned from his continuing corruption trial, with hopes from people close to Netanyahu that he could also provide a boost on the campaign trail. That now seems unlikely, the people said.

“I wonder if Bibi even wants to continue,” Trump told ABC News earlier this month, forcing the Israeli leader to say he was still running in the coming elections.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request for comment. Asked for comment, a White House official said Trump has a great partnership with Netanyahu and Israel but added: “No country or leader pressures President Trump to do anything.”

Trump grew angry at Netanyahu for congratulating former president Joe Biden for winning the 2020 election, but when he returned to office, the two men picked their relationship back up. In a late 2025 interview, Trump said the relationship was symbiotic in some ways. “Bibi is a difficult person, but so am I,” he said.

Over the course of 2025, Netanyahu repeatedly visited Trump to urge him to strike Iran. At one point, Trump pulled the leader aside and took him on a private tour of the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House residence, officials said. Netanyahu called him Donald, an informality most other world leaders do not embrace.

At another point, he brought Trump a gold pager to the White House, which dazzled the president, officials said. It was a replica of the pagers that Israelis had used to blow up members of Hezbollah, the U.S.-designated terrorist group.

“He called me up that night and he said, ‘Man.’ I said, ‘Yeah, ain’t that something?’ He was wowed by that, and I think that gave him a newfound respect for Israel,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican and presidential ally, said in a March interview.

Military cooperation between the two countries reached unprecedented levels. Israeli generals sat in U.S. operations rooms, according to military officials. Dozens of U.S. tankers were parked at Israel’s main civilian airport and other sites in Israel.

Still, Trump was rarely convinced of the need to send ground troops to Iran. He believed the U.S. could overwhelm the regime with air power, assessing Tehran would have no choice but to dismantle its nuclear program under heavy bombardment. Early on, Trump cheered with Netanyahu about the precision of the attacks and discussed particular sites in late-night calls, people familiar with the matter said.

As the war unfolded, Trump grew skeptical of some of Netanyahu’s claims and rejected his plan for a Kurdish invasion of Iran to topple the regime, Israeli officials said. Netanyahu encouraged the bombing of Iranian energy infrastructure, including Kharg Island, a measure opposed by some of Trump’s advisers.

Netanyahu consistently railed against an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, insisting the regime would covertly race to a bomb. Trump, however, told Israeli leaders and his advisers that he wanted to solve the problem diplomatically, not solely with force.

What has seemed to frustrate Trump most, administration officials said, is Israel continuing to bomb Lebanon despite a ceasefire. In the recent call about Lebanon, Trump told Netanyahu he was “f—ing crazy.” After calls now, Trump often asks others in his administration if Netanyahu is accurate, something he did not regularly do in the past, a senior administration official said.