Trump boasts Israel will ‘do as I say’ as US intelligence fears peace deal sabotage

United States President Donald Trump has insisted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu respects him and would “do as I say,” even as US intelligence agencies reportedly fear the Israeli leader could undermine his peace efforts in the Middle East.

Trump made the claim as renewed Israeli strikes in Lebanon threatened to complicate his fragile peace push involving Iran, Israel and Hezbollah.

Speaking to Axios, Trump said Israel would have been “eviscerated” without US support.

He also said he had to keep Netanyahu “a little bit sane,” while insisting the Israeli leader had “a lot of respect” for him.

Asked if he could control Israel’s actions in Lebanon, Trump replied: “Yeah. They have a lot of respect for me — and do as I say.”

However, the Washington Post reported that US intelligence agencies had warned that Netanyahu could try to “undermine” Trump’s peace efforts.

The warning came as Israel and Hezbollah traded attacks shortly after another ceasefire was agreed.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed between the US and Iran three days earlier, Israel and Hezbollah were expected to immediately halt hostilities in Lebanon.

Netanyahu, who did not sign the memorandum and was reportedly sidelined in the talks, has maintained that Israel will remain in the “security zone” it created beyond the border indefinitely.

The crisis deepened after Tehran pressured Trump to force Netanyahu to pause attacks, scrapping planned talks that had been scheduled to take place on Friday.

Iran cited the conflict in Lebanon as the reason for pulling back from the talks.

Before the ceasefire began, Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, issued a hardline statement, saying: “For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn.”

Netanyahu later instructed Israeli forces to strike 150 targets across Lebanon after Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers in overnight drone attacks.

The strikes reportedly left at least 47 people dead and 97 others wounded.

Washington and Tehran later pushed Israel and Hezbollah to pause hostilities from 4pm local time on Friday.

“We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire,” a senior US official told Reuters.

A Hezbollah source also said the group applied the ceasefire as soon as it received word of the agreement.

But the ceasefire appeared fragile almost immediately.

Reports said about a dozen Israeli strikes were recorded across southern Lebanon after the agreement, while Hezbollah drones triggered sirens in northern Israel.

Lebanese sources said Israeli air strikes continued for about an hour after the ceasefire was due to begin before easing.

Trump later told NBC News that he had spoken with Israel and asked it to stop the attacks.

He, however, did not say whether he spoke directly with Netanyahu.