Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After a volatile 24-hour period of escalating intense cross-border hostilities, threatening another full-scale war, US President Donald Trump on Monday cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel risks international isolation if it resumes extensive military operations against Iran.
According to media reports, Trump told Axios, “I said, ‘Bibi, you better be careful, or you will be on your own very soon.’”
The warning highlights Trump’s mounting anxieties that a renewed conflict could sabotage ongoing attempts to broker a diplomatic accord with Tehran and drag Washington further into a regional war. The friction intensified after Israel launched strikes against Iran-supported Hezbollah-linked targets in Beirut, Lebanon, that prompted a retaliatory missile volley from Iran against Israel and stoked global anxieties over a full-scale regional conflict.
The US President, who has consistently advocated for a negotiated settlement with Iran, reportedly pressed Netanyahu to exercise restraint, asserting that a breakthrough in diplomatic talks could materialise within days.
According to US and Israeli officials cited by Axios, Trump is navigating a delicate diplomatic tightrope, balancing his acknowledgement of Israel’s imperative to counter Iranian aggression with the fear that reciprocal attacks could spark an uncontrollable war.
Despite Trump’s reservations, Netanyahu notified the White House that Israel would move forward with restricted operations, and striking installations inside Iran, which provoked Tehran into launching another wave of missiles against the Jewish nation.
While the US military abstained from participating in the Israeli offensive operations against Iran, US defence officials confirmed that American assets assisted Israel in tracking and intercepting the incoming Iranian projectiles.
Amid the escalating crisis, Trump initiated another phone call with Netanyahu to pressure the Israeli PM into abandoning plans for a more expansive military offensive against Iran, with Israeli officials noting that Netanyahu ultimately consented to halt further action, provided Iran ceased its attacks.
The US President also indicated that multiple regional governments had reached out to him to advocate for strategic restraint, adding that Iranian officials had communicated via intermediaries their readiness to halt hostilities if Israel reciprocated.
Netanyahu’s address
Defending his administration’s trajectory in a televised address, Netanyahu countered by asserting that Israel had effectively neutralised what he termed an “imminent Iranian nuclear threat” and profoundly crippled both Iran and Hezbollah in its long military campaign.
The Israeli PM maintained that a pre-emptive strike executed against Iran a year ago had effectively blocked Tehran from securing atomic weapons, reiterating his stance that Israel will never permit Iran to possess nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu also accused Hezbollah with orchestrating an expansive invasion of northern Israel involving thousands of militants and a coordinated missile offensive. He declared that Israel had successfully disrupted the strategy, eliminated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and persisted in demolishing the Iran-supported terror group’s tactical infrastructure, including subterranean networks in southern Lebanon.
According to the Israeli Prime Minister, Iran and Hezbollah have been severely crippled, whereas Israel has consolidated its strategic position. He cautioned that the conflict is ongoing, accusing Tehran and Hezbollah of trying to engineer a “new equation” by orchestrating assaults against Israel from Iranian and Lebanese soil.
Netanyahu justified Israel’s recent actions by stating that its military units had engaged Hezbollah positions in Beirut following cross-border provocations from Lebanon, whilst simultaneously hitting key military and economic installations inside Iran following Iranian strikes on Israeli territory.
He clarified that Israel is temporarily pausing its operations because Iranian attacks had subsided after the latest Israeli actions, although he warned that any fresh aggression from Tehran would trigger an “overwhelming force” response.
Reaffirming Israel’s foundational right to self-defence, Netanyahu stated that he had articulated this exact position during his conversations with Trump, pledging that Israel would act decisively to re-establish security, with a specific focus on its northern frontier.
The public exchange has underscored a broadening policy rift between Washington and Jerusalem regarding regional strategy, with Trump persistently maintaining that a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran remains viable, while Netanyahu insists that a failure to project overwhelming military retaliation would signal vulnerability and erode Israel’s deterrence capabilities.