Trump rebukes Israel after airstrikes in Beirut – jeopardizing his own deal with Iran

Trigger: Hezbollah drone attack

The background to the escalation is a drone attack by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia on northern Israel. According to military reports, Hezbollah fired several explosive drones at Israeli territory. There were two impacts near the Lebanese border, in which, according to Israeli reports, no one was injured. The Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz declared the subsequent airstrike to be direct retaliation for the Hezbollah shelling. The Israeli air force had targeted "terror targets" of Hezbollah in the Dahiya district in southern Beirut, Israel said.

The Lebanese authorities, however, reported at least three killed by the Israeli attacks. The Israeli army announced in the late afternoon that it was preparing for possible shelling of Israeli territory in the coming hours and was on heightened alert. The Iranian Foreign Ministry in Tehran, meanwhile, declared that a signing of the framework agreement was not to be expected on Sunday from the Iranian side, but at the earliest the following week.

The planned framework agreement with Iran

Trump had originally planned to sign a framework agreement to end the war between the US and Iran this Sunday – his 80th birthday. According to US reports, the draft provides for Iran to affirm in the document that it will neither build nor acquire nuclear weapons. In return, the naval blockade of Iranian ports imposed by the US would be lifted and the Strait of Hormuz reopened immediately after signing. In addition, the repeatedly broken ceasefire in place since April is to be extended by 60 days, after which both sides could begin negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program.

But precisely this plan was thrown into doubt by the Israeli attacks. The Iranian regime questioned the agreement and threatened retaliation. A spokesman for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on state broadcaster IRIB: "There is no doubt that these crimes will not go unanswered." Iran's National Security Council chief Mohammad Bagher Solghadr warned: "Lebanon is part of our life, and the crossing of Iran's red lines will not be tolerated." Iran had previously repeatedly stressed that an end to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon was a fundamental condition for a treaty with the US.

Iran's threats and reservations

Iranian Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also had his say on platform X: "If you (USA) neither have the will nor the ability to fulfill your obligations, then the diplomatic path cannot be continued either." Ghalibaf also made clear that Iran could not make diplomatic concessions as long as Washington "gave the nod" to Israeli attacks. The Iranian military leadership announced that Israel must expect a counterstrike.

Despite the tensions, Trump initially expressed confidence. Speaking to Axios journalist Barak Ravid, he said the signing was still planned for Sunday. The New York Times reported that Trump's team had been cautiously optimistic on Sunday morning (US time) that the agreement with Iran could be signed despite the recent Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Trump wrote on Truth Social: "This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace – let's not mess it up!" He called on all sides to exercise restraint and affirmed that the US was close to a deal with Iran that would bring peace to the entire region – including Lebanon.

Trump attacks Netanyahu personally

However, Trump also expressed sharp criticism of Netanyahu personally to Ravid. "Why did Bibi have to do a fucking attack? I was so pissee off. I let him know. He has no fucking judgement. I let him know that", the journalist quoted him as saying. According to media reports, Trump called the Israeli prime minister "crazy" in this context. Trump explained his anger by pointing out that the original Hezbollah attack on Israel had been "very small and insignificant," and no one had been harmed: "But the attack it was responding to was very small and insignificant, no one was harmed, injured or killed, which is why it should not disrupt the important process."

Mediators contradict Trump

The mediating countries also had their say. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had stated on X on Saturday noon that an agreement between Iran and the US was "expected in the next 24 hours" and could then be signed electronically. At the time of publication, it was 4 p.m. in Pakistan and 7 a.m. in Washington. Both Qatar and Pakistan also said they had agreed on a framework agreement to end the war, which was to continue negotiations. However, both mediators contradicted Trump's account that a signing was imminent.

The Iranian news agency Fars reported on Sunday, citing a source familiar with the negotiating team, that Tehran had not yet made a final decision: "The review of the political, legal and technical aspects at expert level is still ongoing." Accordingly, the signing was originally to take place electronically on Sunday, followed by talks at technical level in the following days. The framework agreement would not have been a final treaty to settle all differences, but merely a starting point for deeper talks between Washington and Tehran.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the Iranian accusations and stated on X: "It is Iran's proxy, Hezbollah, that attacked Israel again this morning, completely unprovoked." The news portal Axios reported, citing US circles, that the Israeli army had only informed the US shortly before the airstrikes on Beirut. In a further Truth Social post, Trump announced that the US would "at the appropriate time, once the situation has calmed down," go into Iran to recover, dilute and destroy the uranium stocks buried in the country.

Background of the conflict

The background of the conflict goes further back. On February 28, the US and Israel had begun the war against Iran. Iran had subsequently largely brought shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to a standstill by threatening and directly attacking vessels. The US responded with a naval blockade of Iranian ports to cut Tehran off from oil revenues. Ten days before the latest events, Netanyahu had, according to information from the facts, torpedoed Trump's efforts to settle the conflict and ordered direct attacks on Iran. Shortly thereafter, Israeli attacks near Beirut answered Iranian rocket attacks in several waves on northern Israel, and Israeli counterstrikes on Iran.

Trump's demands on Iran include, among other things, that Tehran cease its support for terrorist militias in the region and end its nuclear program. The Iranian demands in turn include an end to all hostilities and the release of frozen Iranian assets. The US and Iran had repeatedly negotiated over a possible framework agreement that would, among other things, lift the naval blockade and reopen the Strait of Hormuz – as a starting point for further negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program.

The latest developments show how fragile the already repeatedly broken ceasefire is. While Trump continued to push for a signing on Sunday, the Iranian threats and the denials by the mediators raised doubts about a swift conclusion. The Israeli government stuck to its account that the attack had been a necessary response to Hezbollah aggression. Thus, at the end of a turbulent day, two things in particular were certain: The planned peace deal between Washington and Tehran remained uncertain, and the violence in the Middle East had reached a new level of escalation.

The report was broadcast on 14.06.2026 on Deutschlandfunk's program. As of the editorial deadline, it remained unclear whether the framework agreement was still to be signed on Sunday or whether the recent attacks would set back the entire negotiation process further.