'I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate,' Trump told Axios. 'The Iranian strikes didn't hurt anybody,' urging Tehran to 'get back to the table and make a deal'
'I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate,' Trump told Axios. 'The Iranian strikes didn't hurt anybody,' urging Tehran to 'get back to the table and make a deal'
01:49 AM • June 08 2026 IDT
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "won't have any choice" but to accept a U.S.-negotiated Iran cease-fire, The Financial Times reported, with Trump adding that he calls "all the shots" as Washington scrambled to prevent an escalation.
For the first time since the April 8 truce, Iran fired several missile barrages at northern Israel on Sunday evening, triggering sirens across the region. The attack came hours after Israel struck Beirut's southern Dahiyeh suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Tehran described the missile launches as a "warning" and said any further Israeli action against Iran or Lebanon would be met with "an overwhelming response."
Trump urged restraint, telling Axios that "I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don't need another one."
A U.S. official told Axios that Netanyahu had "pseudo-agreed" to Trump's request not to retaliate following a call between the two leaders.
"Why jeopardize a potential deal when you are in the fourth quarter?" the official said. "The president thinks that we have been in this thing for three months. Now is the time to end it."
Trump later told Fox News that the latest exchange of fire had come just as negotiators were nearing an agreement.
"It would have been signed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and now this takes place," he said, adding that he was "not happy" about Israel's strike on Beirut earlier in the day and that it had not been coordinated with Washington.
The president also urged Tehran not to escalate further.
"I would suggest to Iran: You've shot your missiles, that's enough. Get back to the table and make a deal," Trump said.
Asked what would happen if cease-fire negotiations failed, Trump said he would consider deploying troops for a U.S. ground operation in Iran.
"It means [one of] two things," he told FT. "Number one, it would mean that possibly we would go in and take care of the rest of the place that we didn't take care of militarily. Or it would just mean that we would keep the blockade on Iran because the blockade has been probably more powerful than any attack that was ever made on that country."
When Washington says "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," it means something far broader than enrichment percentages
Authorities are considering limiting passenger numbers at Ben-Gurion Airport while emergency preparations expand across the country.
The current conflict — the first war of the post-Khamenei era — is more than another confrontation with Tehran. It is a sign that the regional order born in 1979 is beginning to unravel.
According to Gallant, such an operation would be dangerous, but "worth paying the price to avoid an existential risk."