PM called off major Iran strike after Trump warned Israel would be on its own — reports

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly called off a major strike on Iran with fighter jets on the runway, after US President Donald Trump instructed him on Monday not to escalate Israel’s fight with the Islamic Republic.

Instead, in a brief address to the nation on Monday, Netanyahu said he would halt attacks on Iran “for now,” but warned that Israel would strike Iran and Hezbollah if it is attacked again.

Netanyahu made the comments on Monday evening after conflict erupted between Israel and Iran for the first time since a ceasefire took effect in early April. After Hezbollah bombed northern Israel, Israel struck Beirut on Sunday, prompting Iran to fire a missile at northern Israel. Iran and its Yemeni proxy, the Houthis, fired missiles at Israel on Monday as well. Israel struck Iran in response.

Following the exchange of fire, Trump reportedly told Netanyahu on Monday to hold off on further attacks. The US president, who began the war in late February in partnership with Israel, told Channel 12 that he warned Netanyahu amid the conflict that if Israel escalated the fight, it could now be left alone.

The president and prime minister reportedly spoke multiple times over the course of Sunday and Monday, with Trump urging an end to the renewed conflict and Netanyahu making the case for Israeli strikes. Iran also said it would hold its fire.

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A call between the two men on Monday afternoon, according to Channel 12, marked a turning point: Around 4:30 p.m., the network reported, Netanyahu approved a major operation against Iran to take place later in the day. A New York Times reporter also described the planned attack as “massive.”

But shortly afterward, Trump called him and instructed him to halt any further attacks so Washington could pursue a deal to end the war. Netanyahu agreed, calling off the operation while aircraft were prepared for takeoff, leading to “considerable confusion” within the military high command, Channel 12 reported.

According to the report, some Israeli officials characterized the leaders’ conversation as one of mutual understanding, but other sources said it was effectively a directive from the president.

PM: ‘We’ll respond with force’ if Iran, Hezbollah attack again

Netanyahu made his first comments on the renewed fighting later on Monday evening in an apparently prerecorded Hebrew video address lasting less than three minutes. In the statement, he defended Israel’s strikes but said they would end for the time being.

“After Iran attacked Israel, I directed the IDF to strike military and economic targets throughout Iran,” Netanyahu said.

“At present, the fire on this front has been halted, because after the terrorist regime in Tehran was struck, it stopped attacking us,” he added, while warning that “if that terrorist regime makes the mistake of attacking us again, we will respond with force.”

“Today, Iran and Hezbollah are weaker than ever, and we are stronger than ever. But our struggle against them is not yet over,” the premier said.

Netanyahu, who will stand for reelection in several months, suggested that, with the strikes, he was sending a message to Iran and Hezbollah and demonstrating to Trump that Israel will decide on its own when to use military force.

“Over the past day, Iran and Hezbollah tried to impose a new equation on us. That equation is intolerable and completely unacceptable to me. They thought they could launch attacks from Lebanon and Iran against Israel and that we would not act,” he said. “That did not happen, and it will not happen. Not on my watch.”

He added, “Israel has every right to self-defense, and we will exercise that right whenever necessary. I say this to you, dear citizens of Israel, just as I say it in my good conversations with my friend President Trump.”

Netanyahu, Trump said to spar over whether Israel should retaliate

According to Channel 12, however, Netanyahu’s decision to hold Israeli fire came only after significant pressure from Trump. The US president told the network that he warned Netanyahu Israel could be left alone if it escalated the conflict with Iran.

In a phone conversation with Barak Ravid, a reporter for Channel 12 and Axios, Trump said that he asked Netanyahu on Sunday night not to respond to Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on northern Israel, which followed Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut. He said Netanyahu may have to go it alone if he proceeded with the attacks, according to Ravid.

“I said, ‘Bibi, you better be careful, or you will be on your own very soon,'” Trump reportedly said.

According to the Axios report, Trump made the case that if he reached an agreement with Iran, further Israeli strikes would be unnecessary, but that if talks fall apart, the US could lead a fresh attack. Trump has repeatedly threatened major attacks on Iran, only to later back off.

Channel 12 said in a separate report that, apparently during the same call, Netanyahu said, “The Iranians violated our sovereignty. We have to draw a red line.”

Trump then reportedly replied that Washington would not grant Israel “a green light,” while adding that Netanyahu has his “own calculations,” according to the network.

The report said the conversation ended without a clear conclusion, but several of Trump’s aides who were on the call were cited as saying they were given the impression that Trump had succeeded in buying a few more days without Israeli retaliation.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu decided to strike Iran after consulting with senior security officials.

Trump told the network that Israel updated Washington on the strikes while the missiles were already on their way to Iran, while adding that he managed to scale back the scope of the attack, possibly a reference to the major strike that Netanyahu canceled at the last minute.

Trump reportedly added that five regional countries involved in mediation efforts between the US and Iran had asked him to pressure Netanyahu to halt the strikes and move forward with an agreement to end the war, which Iran and the US have been negotiating for months.

The president reiterated to Channel 12 that he believes an agreement with Iran remains within reach, that Tehran wants to sign one, and that such a deal would be beneficial. Trump told Fox News that he believed he had been only days away from finalizing an agreement with Iran before the fighting between Israel and Iran erupted.

A US official told Axios that the daylight between Netanyahu and Trump spoke to the two men’s diverging political interests.

“Bibi needs the war to continue to stay politically alive in Israel, and Trump needs the war to end to stay politically alive in the US,” a US official told the publication.

‘Why should we pick a fight with him?’

Shortly after their final reported phone call, Netanyahu announced that the strikes would cease. But Channel 12 also reported that he told senior security officials, as he said in his speech, that Israel would strike Hezbollah targets in Beirut if the terror group attacks northern Israeli communities again, even at the risk of triggering another round of confrontation with Iran.

The instructions were given during a series of limited security consultations between Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and senior security officials at the Kirya military headquarters on Monday, according to the report.

The report said the discussions exposed disagreements among security cabinet ministers over how Israel should respond to Trump’s intervention and whether it should prioritize confronting Iran directly or intensifying pressure on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir reportedly argued that Israel should resist US pressure, saying, “We need to stand our ground against Trump. We need to fight tooth and nail and make it clear that we have red lines.”

Netanyahu reportedly responded by suggesting Ben Gvir’s position was influenced by the approaching election campaign, a charge the far-right minister rejected.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reportedly argued that Israel should continue to focus its military response on Hezbollah targets in Beirut, seeming to suggest this would both weaken the terror group and reinforce Israel’s rejection of Iranian demands that Lebanon be included in any ceasefire.

“The right course of action is to stick with the Beirut model… Strike hard in Beirut. That will cause Hezbollah to beg for it to stop, and it could help further separate the [Iranian and Lebanese] fronts,” he reportedly said.

Netanyahu reportedly defended the coordination with Washington, arguing that Trump remains aligned with Israel’s broader objectives regarding Iran.

“We are on the same page as Trump,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying. “He is not releasing Iran’s frozen funds, he is determined to secure the nuclear material, and he is maintaining the pressure. Why should we pick a fight with him?”