Trump says he will urge Netanyahu not to retaliate after Iran fires missiles over Beirut strikes

Iran fired missiles at Israel on Sunday after Israeli strikes hit Beirut's southern outskirts, marking the first direct Iranian attack on Israel since a ceasefire came into effect in April. US President Donald Trump, briefed on the escalation from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, said he would call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and press him not to strike back, news outlet Axios reported. A US official confirmed Trump had been briefed, Reuters said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"It's certainly not going to help negotiations," Trump told Fox News after the Iranian missile launches. "What I would suggest to Iran: You've shot your missiles, that's enough, get back to the table and make a deal."

Asked about the earlier Israeli strike on Beirut, he said: "I'm not happy about it."

Trump also told NBC News: "We're very close to a deal, or I'm going to blow the hell out of them." Those comments were recorded on Friday and broadcast on Sunday.

How it unfolded

Israel launched strikes on Beirut's southern outskirts on Sunday for the first time since the US announced a truce plan for Lebanon the previous week. Netanyahu said the strikes on Dahiyeh, a district long considered a Hezbollah stronghold, were ordered in response to Hezbollah firing toward Israel. The Israeli military said it had earlier intercepted two projectiles fired over the border and issued an evacuation order for the southern Lebanese city of Tyre ahead of possible further strikes.

Hours later, Iran fired a salvo of missiles at Israeli targets. The Israeli military said its defence systems had intercepted them. Details on whether Israel suffered any damage were not immediately available.

It was the first time Iran had directly targeted Israel since a ceasefire in the wider war came into effect in April, although Hezbollah has continued to do so, according to Reuters. Iran has long said any peace deal with the US would depend on a ceasefire also holding in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of Hezbollah fighters who had fired rockets and drones across the border.

What Iran and Israel said

Iran's chief peace negotiator and parliamentary speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf said US bases and Israeli assets were now legitimate targets, citing what he described as hostile acts including the "violation of agreements over Lebanon." "They showed that they only understand the language of power," he wrote on X.

Ebrahim Rezaei, a hardline lawmaker serving as spokesperson for the Iranian parliament's national security committee, posted on X that Iran would deliver a "decisive and painful response" to Sunday's Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

An Israeli official told Reuters that Israel would retaliate against any attacks on its territory from Iran and consider it "an opportunity to renew the campaign."

The bigger picture

Reuters reported that Trump had already been leaning on Israel to scale back its Lebanon campaign to create room for a peace deal with Iran, including rebuking Netanyahu with obscenities in a phone call the previous week. After that call, Netanyahu cancelled planned air strikes on Beirut and agreed to the latest truce plan with the Lebanese government. Israel has never fully halted its Lebanon campaign, which Reuters reported has killed thousands of people and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Hezbollah, which was not party to the truce and would be dismantled under its terms, has also continued its attacks. It says it will not give up its weapons unless Israel halts fighting and withdraws.

The wider war has been stalemated since the US and Israel paused their attacks on Iran in early April. Tehran has been blocking most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the main transit route for Middle East oil, while Washington has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.

On Saturday, US forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island after shooting down Iranian drones that US Central Command said posed a threat to maritime traffic. Two further Iranian attack drones were also shot down. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they retaliated against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. Kuwait's army said it engaged seven ballistic missiles that passed over residential areas, resulting in material damage but no casualties.

What is at stake

A source familiar with US plans told Reuters on Saturday that Washington could make Iranian assets available to Gulf neighbours to repair damage inflicted by Iran. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Sunday that any such diversion of Iranian assets would be illegal and that Tehran would take measures in response.

Trump has said any agreement to end the war must prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Tehran's demands include the lifting of US and international sanctions, recognition of its position over the Strait of Hormuz, and the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets, Reuters reported. Washington and Tehran have said they are close to a preliminary agreement that would reopen the strait, though they have repeatedly traded strikes in recent days, including attacks on Arab states hosting US bases.