Trump blames PM Netanyahu for endangering peace deal as Israel braces for Iranian retaliation after striking Hezbollah in Beirut

U.S. President Donald Trump scolded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in unprecedentedly harsh language on Sunday, blaming him for the delay while appealing to all sides not to endanger the U.S.-Iran peace deal he intended to sign, as Israel prepared for Iranian retaliation for a strike against Hezbollah in Beirut earlier.

“Bibi has no f***ing judgment. I conveyed that message to him—that I am very dissatisfied,” the president told Israel’s Channel 12 News, after the Israel Defense Forces stated in the afternoon that it “is preparing for potential fire toward the territory of the State of Israel in the coming hours.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir “is conducting ongoing situational assessment with all relevant commanders,” the military said, adding its troops remain “on high alert and prepared for a range of defensive and offensive scenarios.”

BREAKING: President Trump tells @TreyYingst that a deal with Iran is expected in next few hours. pic.twitter.com/hTEfGMGb60

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 14, 2026

The deputy commander of the Iranian armed forces' emergency headquarters, Khatam al-Anbiya, Gen. Mohammed Jafar Asadi, had threatened that the Israeli strike in Beirut “will not go unanswered.”

“Why did Bibi carry out this attack? Hezbollah fired and hit the middle of nowhere. Nobody was hurt. Then he had to carry out this f***ing attack, and in Beirut no less. It really angered me,” Trump continued his comments to Channel 12.

“They called me and said, 'Sir, Israel is attacking in Beirut'—an hour before we were supposed to sign the agreement. I couldn't believe it was happening. It's very bad.”

Writing on Truth Social, Trump had already scolded Israel, arguing that “the attack it was responding to was very small and meaningless, nobody was hurt, injured, or killed, and should not disrupt this important process.”

🚨The impacts of several suspicious aerial targets were identified in Israeli territory, near the Israel-Lebanon border. No injuries were reported, and the incident is under review. https://t.co/s5yZ5tFqjf

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 14, 2026

Earlier on Sunday, three Hezbollah drones had hit northern Israel. Defense Minister Israel Katz had vowed last week that any strike on Israeli territory would be answered with a strike in Beirut.

After the strike, the IDF again said that “several suspicious aerial targets were identified in Israeli territory, near the Israel-Lebanon border,” and more alarm sirens were triggered in several northern areas.

Trump appealed that “we are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon, and all sides should stand down. There should be no more attacks by Israel anywhere in Lebanon, but there should also be no more attacks by any other party, including Hezbollah, against Israel. This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace — Let’s not blow it!”

Netanyahu and Katz explained in a joint statement that they “authorized an IDF surgical strike on a Hezbollah terrorist target in the Dahiyeh quarter of Beirut” that came “in response to continued Hezbollah attacks on Israel’s territory, including a terror drone strike this morning.”

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz says President Trump “has every intention” of signing a U.S.-Iran peace deal today. https://t.co/iWJxMKRWjA pic.twitter.com/YlC0DCE9Ru

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 14, 2026

“Israel will not tolerate firing at its territory,” Netanyahu and Katz emphasized.

According to Israel’s Channel 14 News citing Israeli sources, American officials were trying to pressure the Iranian regime not to strike Israel, while Israeli officials warned that the IDF would “respond strongly and quickly” in that case.

In the late afternoon, the IDF Home Front Command restricted public gatherings nationwide to 5,000 people, while leaving defense guidelines unchanged along the northern border, where gatherings were already restricted to 100 people outdoors and 400 indoors amid incessant Hezbollah attacks.

Despite the fears of escalation, Trump assured Fox News and Israel’s Channel 12 News that he still expected to sign a deal with Iran in the coming hours.

“We were supposed to sign the agreement this morning, and the Israeli strike in Beirut delayed it. I think the signing will still take place today, within a few hours. But the Israeli strike shook things up.”