Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu halted a planned large-scale strike on Iran on Monday after President Donald Trump urged him to avoid further escalation, according to Israeli and U.S. officials, in the latest sign of growing tension between the two leaders over the direction of the conflict in the Middle East.
According to reporting from The Times of Israel, Israeli fighter jets were reportedly already preparing for takeoff when Trump called Netanyahu and pressed him to cancel the operation. The planned attack came after Iran launched missile strikes against northern Israel following Israeli attacks on Hezbollah targets in Beirut over the weekend.
The New York Times reported that Trump told Netanyahu during a Monday morning call that the United States and Iran were within days of a breakthrough that could reopen negotiations on a long-term nuclear agreement and preserve the fragile ceasefire that had been in place since April.
After the conversation, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to pause the planned strikes, according to both U.S. and Israeli officials cited by the newspaper.
The confrontation marked the first direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran since the ceasefire took effect earlier this year. Iran and its Yemeni ally, the Houthis, fired missiles toward Israel after Israeli strikes in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah positions. Israel later carried out more limited retaliatory strikes inside Iran before Netanyahu announced Monday evening that attacks would stop "for now."
"If that terrorist regime makes the mistake of attacking us again, we will respond with force," Netanyahu said in a televised address, while also insisting that Israel would continue defending itself independently.
According to ABC News, Trump spoke with Netanyahu multiple times over the course of Sunday and Monday as administration officials grew increasingly concerned that the escalating exchanges could collapse ongoing diplomatic efforts with Iran and trigger a broader regional war.
Trump publicly called on both sides to "immediately stop shooting" and privately warned Netanyahu that Israel could "end up alone" if it continued escalating the conflict.
The dispute also highlighted broader tensions between Trump and Netanyahu that have become more visible in recent weeks. As detailed in reporting by The Washington Post, Trump has increasingly pushed for a negotiated settlement with Iran and an end to the fighting, while Netanyahu faces domestic political pressure to maintain military operations against both Iran and Hezbollah ahead of expected elections later this year.
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