Trump says he told Netanyahu to scale back Israeli strikes in Lebanon amid fragile Iran ceasefire

President Trump said Thursday he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "low-key" Israel's barrage of strikes in Lebanon, a direct intervention that came just one day after Israeli forces hit 100 targets across the country in what has been called the deadliest day there since the latest offensive resumed.

The remarks, made in a phone interview with Israeli journalist Neria Kraus, confirmed earlier NBC News reporting that Trump had asked Netanyahu to pull back. They also signaled a rare moment of public friction between the two leaders, even as both insisted the U.S.-Iran ceasefire reached Tuesday does not formally cover Lebanon.

The Hill reported that Trump framed the conversation in characteristically blunt terms, telling Kraus that Netanyahu would comply.

"Netanyahu is going to be fine. He's going to low-key a little bit. He's got a problem with Hezbollah. He's going to low-key a little bit, but he's going to be absolutely fine."

That was Trump's assessment Thursday. But the timeline of the past 72 hours tells a more complicated story, one in which a two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran was announced Tuesday, Israel launched its largest-scale attack yet on Wednesday, and Iran retaliated by closing the Strait of Hormuz.

A ceasefire, and a dispute over what it covers

Iran indicated that the two-week ceasefire agreement reached Tuesday with the United States includes the halting of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Pakistan, described as a key mediator in the U.S.-Iran talks, understood Lebanon to be part of the deal as well.

Trump and Netanyahu disagreed. Both said Wednesday that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire.

Vice President JD Vance, speaking to reporters while traveling back from Hungary on Wednesday, called Iran's belief that Lebanon was covered "a legitimate misunderstanding." He added that Israel had offered to scale back on its own initiative, not because it was bound by the truce terms.

"I think that's just the Israelis trying to set us up for success, and we'll of course see how that unfolds in the next few days."

Vance said Israel was willing "to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon, because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful." He was careful to note: "That's not because that is part of the ceasefire."

That distinction matters. If Lebanon was never part of the deal, then Israel's strikes, however intense, did not technically violate any agreement. But if Iran and Pakistan both believed otherwise, the diplomatic fallout could still undermine the broader ceasefire before it has a chance to hold. Skeptics had already questioned the durability of Trump's Iran ceasefire gambit even before this week's events.

Wednesday's strikes: 100 targets in 10 minutes

Israel's military did not wait for the diplomatic dust to settle. On Wednesday, the day after the ceasefire was announced, Israeli forces conducted what the article described as their largest-scale attack yet in the latest offensive. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesperson, said the Israeli military struck 100 targets across Lebanon.

The strikes hit 100 sites in 10 minutes, a pace that underscored the operation's scope and intensity.

Heba Morayef, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said Wednesday marked the deadliest day in Lebanon since Israel resumed strikes last month. No specific casualty figures were provided in connection with her statement.

Iran's response was swift and consequential: it closed the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which a significant share of the world's oil supply passes. That move alone raises the stakes well beyond the Levant. The broader U.S. military campaign against Iran has already been enormous in scale, CENTCOM reported over 8,000 targets struck in Iran as American forces degraded Tehran's naval capabilities over recent weeks.

Israel's campaign and the Hezbollah question

The Israeli military began its latest campaign against Hezbollah on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran. The offensive has continued for nearly two months, and Netanyahu has framed it as essential to Israeli security.

Trump acknowledged as much Thursday, telling Kraus that Netanyahu "has a problem with Hezbollah." That is not a trivial concession. Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and has launched attacks on Israeli territory. Israel's argument for continuing operations in Lebanon rests on the claim that Hezbollah poses an active, ongoing threat that no ceasefire with Tehran alone can resolve.

But Trump's message was clear: scale it back. And Netanyahu appeared to listen, at least publicly.

On Thursday, the Israeli prime minister posted on X that he had directed his government "to open direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible." Those talks would reportedly focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between the two countries.

That is an ambitious agenda. Hezbollah has resisted disarmament for decades. Whether Netanyahu's announcement reflects a genuine diplomatic pivot or a tactical pause designed to ease American pressure remains to be seen. The broader theater of conflict has included dramatic operations, including a complex U.S. special operations rescue mission in the Iranian mountains that illustrated just how deeply American forces are engaged in the region.

What Trump's intervention signals

Trump's willingness to publicly tell an ally to pull back is notable. This is not a president who has been shy about supporting Israel's right to defend itself. But the timing suggests a clear calculation: the Iran ceasefire is the bigger prize, and Israeli operations in Lebanon, whatever their military justification, risk blowing it up.

Vance made the same point in more diplomatic language, framing Israel's offer to restrain itself as a gesture of goodwill toward American negotiations. The vice president's careful phrasing, "trying to set us up for success", suggests the administration views Israel's cooperation not as a concession but as strategic alignment.

Still, the gap between what Iran understood the ceasefire to cover and what the U.S. and Israel say it covers is not a small thing. A "legitimate misunderstanding," as Vance called it, can become a pretext for escalation if it is not resolved quickly. Iran has already responded with the Hormuz closure. Tehran has also threatened allied nations as the broader conflict has intensified in recent weeks.

Open questions

Several key details remain unclear. The exact terms of the two-week ceasefire agreement have not been publicly released. The specific casualty figures from Wednesday's strikes in Lebanon have not been disclosed in connection with Amnesty International's characterization of it as the deadliest day. And the precise nature of Iran's statement claiming Lebanon was included in the deal has not been detailed.

What is clear is the sequence: a ceasefire was announced, a massive Israeli strike followed within 24 hours, Iran closed a critical waterway, and the president of the United States told his closest Middle Eastern ally to stand down.

Netanyahu's announcement of direct negotiations with Lebanon is a step in the right direction. But announcements are cheap. Hezbollah has never voluntarily disarmed, and Iran has never stopped arming it. The question is whether Trump's intervention buys enough time for diplomacy to work, or whether the next 100 targets are already queued up.

In the Middle East, ceasefires don't hold because both sides agree to stop. They hold because someone with leverage makes it clear that the cost of breaking them is higher than the cost of keeping them. That is the role Trump has now claimed for himself, and it is one where results, not rhetoric, are the only currency that counts.