U.S. ​President Donald Trump acknowledged calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” in an expletive-filled phone exchange over fighting in Lebanon, while the ‌U.S. was trying to negotiate an end to hostilities with Iran.

In an interview broadcast on Wednesday, Trump was asked whether he had called the longtime Israeli leader “effing crazy” and accused him of ingratitude, paraphrasing a report by Axios, according to Reuters.

“I did,” Trump told the “Pod Force One” podcast. “I wouldn’t say angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with ​Lebanon, you know.”

Trump went on to say he and Netanyahu get along very well.

According to the Axios report, which cited an unidentified ​U.S. official, Trump said to Netanyahu in a call on Monday: “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.”

Trump said in the interview: “At some point, I said, ​Bibi, we got to stop this. We got to stop it.”

NETANYAHU CITES COMMON GOALS

Netanyahu, asked about the Axios report, declined to offer details of the conversation ​but said his relationship with Trump had not changed.

“We have common goals. Sometimes we have, as in the best of families, you have these tactical disagreements,” he said in an interview on CNBC on Wednesday.

“He’s been the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House, and he respects me; I respect him. We always find a ​way to work out our differences.”

Iran has said it will not agree to a deal with the United States to end the war that ​Trump and Netanyahu launched in late February unless a ceasefire also covers Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia that fired across the ‌border in ⁠support of Tehran.

Hostilities have continued despite a U.S.-mediated agreement announced on Monday that led Israel to step back from attacking the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, and the Iran-backed group to halt cross-border strikes.

Israeli drone strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon and targeted a car south of Beirut on Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said. Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.

Trump bristled when asked if Netanyahu “tricked” him into attacking Iran, saying ​his critics were “the enemy.”

“I mean, I’m ​the one that started it,” Trump ⁠said. “I started because we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”

“Now that pertains to Israel, because they probably would have been the first one to get hit. There would be no Israel. Tell you what, if there wasn’t ​me, there would be no Israel right now.”

Trump maintained that Israel would have been in a far worse position ​if he had ⁠not abandoned a 2015 accord reached by President Barack Obama and other world leaders with Iran, under which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.

After Trump withdrew from that deal during his first White House term in 2018, Iran produced stockpiles of near-weapons-grade highly enriched uranium, which ⁠Trump now ​demands it relinquish. Trump’s critics say Iran is now closer to making a nuclear weapon, ​and it will be hard for Trump to negotiate a better deal.

Trump has used expletives about Israel in the past, including publicly saying last year that Israel and Iran “don’t know what the ​fuck they are doing.”

Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a ceasefire to end hostilities, the Trump administration said on Wednesday, ​in a boost to hopes for a broader deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Reuters reported.

Tehran, which had conditioned any deal with the U.S. in part on an end to fighting ‌between Israel and Lebanon, earlier struck Kuwait, damaging its airport and injuring dozens while the U.S. military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia and the evacuation of all its operatives from the South Litani Sector, a joint statement released by the U.S. State Department said following negotiations in Washington.

The two sides had agreed last month to a ceasefire but hostilities had continued. Israel invaded Lebanon in March in pursuit of Lebanese ​militant group Hezbollah, which fired across the border in support of Tehran.

The attacks on Kuwait and in the strait are the latest to test a shaky ceasefire between the U.S., Israel and Iran, sending oil prices up nearly 2%, ​as the strait remains largely closed more than three months after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended after an Iranian drone and ⁠missile attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60 others, Kuwaiti authorities and state media said.

Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways later resumed flights after taking safety measures, the civil aviation ​authority said.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they did not fire at Kuwait’s airport and blamed the destruction on U.S. interceptor missiles that failed to hit their targets, according to Iranian state media.

The U.S. military said that was not ​accurate, and that Iranian drones targeted the airport deliberately.

Earlier, Iranian media reported the Revolutionary Guards had attacked the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and a U.S. airbase, as well as a vessel identified as Panaya. U.S. Central Command denied its bases had been hit and said Iranian ballistic missiles failed to strike their targets in the region.

CENTCOM said it had carried out a new round of “defensive strikes” in southern Iran, targeted missile launch sites and Iranian boats seeking to lay mines, and conducted ​strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz after attempted Iranian attacks, read the report.

Since the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, Tehran has repeatedly attacked targets in the Gulf region, home ​to U.S. military bases.

Hostilities have periodically flared up in recent weeks despite a ceasefire agreed in early April, as the U.S. has pushed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which handled roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas ‌shipments before the ⁠war.

Last week, Iran and the U.S. signalled progress towards a tentative initial agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait, but the two sides have yet to sign off on the deal, which would leave more complex negotiations for later.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday that talks had not been cut off but no progress had been made.

In addition to Tehran conditioning a deal on an end to fighting in Lebanon, it also wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, a lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ports and continued leverage over the strait.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who is under pressure to ​bring down fuel prices, has said his top priority is ​to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran ⁠says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes. In a podcast interview released on Wednesday, Trump said Iran had agreed to not have a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei was involved in negotiations, Reuters reported.

Later on Wednesday Trump suggested there could be progress in negotiations with Iran as soon as this weekend.

“If it happens, it could happen over the ​weekend,” Trump told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office, without elaborating on what he expected to happen within that timeframe.

Trump said that parties were working to ​separate the issue of reopening ⁠the strait from the conflict in Lebanon.

The war has killed thousands, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, while causing global economic pain by severely disrupting energy supplies and other shipping.

It also sparked the latest round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

On Wednesday, Israeli drone strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon and targeted a car just south of Beirut, Lebanese security sources said, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.

Araqchi ⁠said Iran would ​respond decisively if Israel attacks Beirut.

In his podcast comments, Trump acknowledged having called Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” during a reportedly expletive-filled phone ​exchange over the fighting in Lebanon as he sought a deal over the wider war.

“At some point I said, Bibi, we got to stop this. We got to stop it,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

Netanyahu told CNBC in an interview that he and Trump ​sometimes had “tactical disagreements” but that they agreed on the main issues concerning Iran.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa held a telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, during which the two leaders discussed Syria’s economic recovery and recent regional developments, according to a statement from the Syrian presidency.

During the call, Sharaa emphasized that lifting the remaining U.S. sanctions on Syria is essential for reviving the country’s economy and attracting foreign investment.

Although Washington has dismantled much of its sanctions regime on Syria and repealed the Caesar Act, U.S. officials have stated that certain sanctions remain in place. These measures continue to target former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, his associates, individuals accused of human rights violations, alleged captagon traffickers, and other actors the United States considers destabilizing to the region.

The U.S. administration is also reviewing Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, a status that imposes restrictions on foreign assistance, defense exports, and financial transactions.

Analysts view the removal of the remaining sanctions as a critical step toward the success of Syria’s new government and broader economic recovery efforts.

Several Saudi companies are reportedly preparing multi-billion-dollar investments in Syria as part of Riyadh’s support for reconstruction and economic development. Other Gulf nations have also pledged financial assistance to help stabilize the country after years of conflict.

The phone call comes amid growing regional efforts to support Syria’s reintegration into the international community and encourage economic rebuilding.