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Tongue lashing could generally fall into one of two categories: un-called for or richly deserved. Clearly the last of the reported rather angry and blunt telephone call from President Donald Trump to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu could fall into the latter category.
The tone and tenor of President Trump words reflect not just anger and frustration but absolute disbelief that the Israeli leader could be wrecking a process that the White House has been working on painstakingly, especially on a conflict that Washington had no business starting but in only at the prodding of Tel Aviv.
“You’re f***ing 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,” President Trump is said to have told Prime Minister Netanyahu in a steamy call, according to unnamed sources cited by Axios.
“What the f*** are you doing,” the President is also said to have yelled. This is not the first time that President Trump has had a rough telephone call with the Israeli leader, but the depth of the latest anger has a background: Iran has supposedly walked out of the negotiations citing Israeli actions in Lebanon; and President Trump himself is said to be deeply concerned at the killing of numerous civilians and destroying many buildings to take down one Hezbollah commander.
Prime Minister Netanyahu may not have lost much sleep over a telephone call or in the expletives flying around; but he is not naive to be lost on the message that is being conveyed: that Israel, thanks to its Prime Minister, is losing out not just within the Democratic Party, but even among mainstream and long term supporters in the Grand Old Party on Capitol Hill.
The condemnation of the Jewish state can no longer be a liability for the Democrats only; slowly Republicans will also be forced to fall in line or face the heat. And President Trump has a bigger problem in his hands: the rank and file of his movement and supporters calling for a quick end to the Iran war given that mid term elections are just five months away.
In all the shouting that is going on the so-called peace deal, not many have forgotten the fact that here is perhaps a war that started without knowing why it was necessary. At the egging of Tel Aviv, Washington started its bombing runs on Iranian nuclear sites after the Commander-in-Chief himself proudly claimed in June 2025 that the nuclear program had been obliterated. And after Israeli intelligence started taking out the top of the Iranian leadership, the rationale soon shifted to regime change which going by present scheme of things has itself been a huge failure. Intelligence agencies of Israel and the United States failed to calculate the quick succession in a pack of leaders that went beyond a mere handful.
From nuclear sites to regime change the attention soon shifted to the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran shut claiming sovereignty on an international waterway. And this led to an American naval blockade of all Iranian ports from where oil and petroleum products could be shipped. And now at a time when Iran and the United States seemed inching toward a deal, Prime Minister Netanyahu seemed to be placing obstacles by continuing with his raid on Lebanon, a principal bone of objection of Iran. Worse, it appears to have undercut President Trump’s personal efforts—whatever they may have been—of a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah.
The thinking that the reported call between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu—officially the two governments have neither confirmed nor denied—would be the last involving some “juicy” language could be wishful thinking. In fact, it is tempting to argue that more could be in store when the final peace deal is finalized, especially in the part dealing with the future of the Iranian nuclear program that Israel would not touch with a barge pole and Iran maintaining of its sovereign and inalienable right.
In all the noise of the right to collect tolls for the use of Hormuz or Iran and Oman getting into the act together much to the annoyance of Washington, the details of the future of Iranian nuclear program are somehow not making media headlines excepting in fits-and-starts. The issue goes far beyond the immediate concern of the 400 kilograms of uranium in the hands of Iran or in the so-called “nuclear dust” in the bombed-out sites.
In fact, one of the talking points in the United States and elsewhere is if the framework currently being worked out will be “better” than the one President Barack Obama put together after nearly three years of negotiations in 2015 that President Trump walked out in 2018 citing that Washington gave away too much in return for nothing especially on the so-called sunset clauses.
The same issues are returning now: on how long the Iranian program can be put in “freeze”—five years or twenty, now that forever is not an option. And it should matter now to ponder the wisdom of walking out on an earlier deal that had an uranium enrichment levels of 3.67 percent as opposed to 60 percent now.
But the bigger bottom line will be of abiding interest to all: if President Trump will give Prime Minister Netanyahu a veto on anything pertaining to Iran’s nuclear program as part of a larger deal. The last reported call of President Trump would seem to be the first of the many messages that could follow in the coming days.
Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this article/column are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of South Asian Herald.
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