Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump said on Monday that Israeli troops would hold off on going into Beirut amid increasingly rising tensions in the Middle East, announcing that he had held phone conversations with both Israel and Hezbollah.
“I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
This comes shortly after PM Netanyahu announced that he had ordered the Israeli Defense Forces to strike terrorists in the Dahiyeh district of Beiruit, following what he described as “repeated and ongoing violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon by the terrorist organization Hezbollah” against Israeli citizens and infrastructure.
Shortly after the president announced his phone call with PM Netanyahu, the Israeli leader released his own statement on X. Netanyahu said, “Tonight, I spoke with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens—Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut. This stance of ours remains unchanged. In parallel, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.”
President Trump said in his statement on Monday that he also had a phone call with Hezbollah.
“Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel,” the president stated.
President Trump also said in a separate post that negotiations between the United States and Iran were continuing. The president’s update on talks provides some insight into the ongoing ceasefire between the two nations, following the U.S. Central Command’s confirmation on Monday that U.S. forces intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles aimed at Americans in Kuwait.
“U.S. Central Command remains vigilant and will continue to protect our forces from Iranian aggression while supporting the ongoing ceasefire,” CENTCOM said in a statement posted on X.
In an earlier interview with CNBC, President Trump suggested that he “couldn’t care less” if negotiations with Iran were to end. “If they’re over, they’re over. If they’re not, you know, I think they took too much time. Frankly, I thought they started to get very boring,” he told the outlet.
Iranian aggression, as highlighted by CENTCOM, seems to be a continual issue that has cast doubt upon the strength of the ongoing ceasefire. In light of this problem, President Trump was asked by CNBC if it was time to “end” the ceasefire.
“Well we will see,” the president said, via the outlet’s transcript. “…let’s say I knew exactly what, you know, what you’re asking to do now, sort of. And I sort of do. Why would I tell you?”