[Reuters]
[Reuters]

Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have agreed to meet in the United States in the near future.

Israel's Prime Minister's Office announced Thursday that the two leaders had spoken by phone and "agreed to meet soon in the United States," according to AFP.

The statement added that Netanyahu told Trump "the United States is a bastion of world freedom and that Israel highly values the close relationship between the two countries." Netanyahu also conveyed congratulations on the United States' 250th anniversary of independence.

The longtime allies jointly struck Iran on Feb. 28 with the aim of dismantling its nuclear weapons program, but the two countries have since fallen out of step over how to end the war with Iran.

Trump has publicly lashed out at Netanyahu in recent weeks after Israel's continued military operations against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group in Lebanon, threatened to upend his efforts to broker a ceasefire with Tehran.

With midterm elections approaching in November and anti-war sentiment rising at home amid inflation, Trump has been pushing hard to bring the conflict to a swift close.

But Israel threw cold water on those efforts in early June, bombing Lebanon in a strike targeting Hezbollah while US-Iran ceasefire negotiations were in full swing.

In response, Trump reportedly called Netanyahu and berated him in an expletive-laden tirade, demanding to know "what the hell are you doing," calling him "crazy" and "ungrateful."

Both inside and outside Israel, suspicions are growing that Netanyahu may be prolonging the war to avoid the consequences of his ongoing corruption trial.

If he halts the campaign against Hezbollah, the coalition government that keeps him in power could collapse, stripping him of his position and likely accelerating legal proceedings against him.

Adding to the tensions, The New York Times recently reported that Israel attempted to assassinate members of the Iranian delegation in April, while US-Iran ceasefire talks were underway.

The United States detected the plot and rushed to warn Iran through an intermediary, the Times reported.


spa@heraldcorp.com