‘Shouting match from hell’: Trump, Netanyahu clash over Iran war

Tehran (TIP): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call over the weekend that focused largely on Iran, against the backdrop of disagreements between Jerusalem and Washington over whether to renew the war against the Islamic Republic. Sources familiar with the conversation described it as an unusually difficult and heated exchange, with one source calling it “a shouting match from hell.”
The Prime Minister’s Office strongly rejected that account, insisting the conversation was not confrontational. “Fake news, complete nonsense,” Netanyahu’s office said in response to claims of a shouting match between the two leaders. A senior Israeli official confirmed that the call took place but likewise insisted it was “very much not a difficult conversation,” contradicting the accounts given by other sources.
Despite those denials, Netanyahu’s remarks in the Knesset on Tuesday underscored significant differences over Iran. While the Trump administration wants to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement with Tehran, Netanyahu believes the nuclear threat cannot be permanently eliminated without the fall of the Iranian regime. Whether and when to resume strikes on Iran has emerged as a central point of tension between the two sides.
Speaking during the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset, Netanyahu warned that Iran was working to rebuild its nuclear threat and said regime change in Tehran was, in his view, the only permanent solution.
“Iran is working to renew the nuclear threat. The only way to permanently remove this existential threat is by toppling the ayatollah regime,” he said.
Netanyahu also warned of diplomatic pressure he expects Israel to face in the near future. “Soon we will face international pressure to accept a nuclear Iran and the continued existence of the regime of terror that seeks to destroy us,” he said. “We will also face pressure to retreat from our tremendous achievements and from our great achievement in the security zones.”
His remarks came as the United States and Iran remain in contact and as Netanyahu pushes for a renewed military campaign while Trump gives diplomacy another chance. Netanyahu also tied the security challenges to Israel’s political deadlock, renewing his call for a national unity government. “In the face of these threats, we must do one thing in this house: put every other consideration aside and establish a national unity government,” he said.