President Donald Trump said Monday he believes the United States could reach an agreement with Iran “over the next week” after personally intervening to halt a rapidly escalating confrontation between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon that Tehran warned could derail the negotiations altogether.
Speaking in a phone interview with ABC News, Trump said negotiations with Tehran were “looking good” after what he described as a brief “glitch” stemming from Iranian anger over Israel’s escalating military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, including threats by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike the terror group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh district following intensified rocket and drone attacks deeper into northern Israel.
“Looking good, looking good,” Trump told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, adding, “There was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly, as you probably noticed earlier.”
Trump said the “glitch” centered on Iranian objections to Israel’s military operations against Hezbollah, which Tehran has insisted must be covered under both the current ceasefire framework and any future agreement currently being negotiated between Washington and the Islamic Republic.
“So I spoke with Hezbollah, and I said no shooting, and I talked to Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and said no shooting, and they both stopped shooting each other,” Trump said.
The remarks came after rapidly escalating tensions throughout Monday threatened to destabilize already-fragile negotiations surrounding a proposed 60-day memorandum of understanding aimed at extending the ceasefire while reopening the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz and creating a framework for broader negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
Earlier Monday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is closely affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that Tehran had suspended indirect exchanges with the United States through mediators over what it described as Israel’s expanding military operations in Lebanon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has played a central role in the negotiations, warned that the ceasefire between Iran and the United States applied to “all fronts, including Lebanon,” while warning that Washington and Jerusalem would bear “the consequences of any violation.”
At the same time, Israel appeared poised to significantly escalate operations against Hezbollah after the terror group launched renewed rocket and drone barrages deeper into northern Israel, including toward Haifa-area communities, Safed, Kiryat Shmona, and other civilian population centers.
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement Monday threatening strikes in Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled Dahiyeh district following what they described as repeated violations of the ceasefire by the Iranian-backed terror group.
The Israel Defense Forces later issued an Arabic-language evacuation warning to residents in parts of southern Beirut as reports circulated that Israel was preparing major strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in the Lebanese capital.
Axios later reported that Trump held a tense call with Netanyahu amid fears that a major Israeli strike on Beirut could derail the already-fragile negotiations with Tehran, with the president reportedly pressing Israel not to significantly escalate operations in Lebanon as Iran threatened to freeze talks and intensify pressure around the Strait of Hormuz and other regional fronts.
Trump later announced on Truth Social that he had intervened directly to halt the escalation.
“I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi!” Trump wrote.
Trump added that he had also spoken with “Representatives of the Leaders of Hezbollah,” claiming the terror group agreed to halt attacks on Israel.
“Likewise, Israel agreed to stop shooting at them. Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!” he added.
Netanyahu later clarified that Israel would still strike Hezbollah targets in Beirut if attacks on Israeli civilians continued.
“I spoke this evening with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and civilians, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut,” Netanyahu said. “This position remains unchanged.”
In a separate Truth Social post earlier Monday, Trump insisted negotiations with Tehran were continuing “at a rapid pace” despite conflicting signals throughout the day regarding the status of the talks.
Earlier in the day, Trump told CNBC he did not care whether negotiations collapsed, saying the discussions had become “very boring,” while separately telling NBC News that “going silent would be very good” after reports surfaced that Iran was threatening to freeze discussions altogether.
Hours later, however, Trump struck a far more optimistic tone in both his Truth Social posts and his interview with ABC News, arguing that a broader agreement with Iran could prove “even better than a military victory.”
“It’s not a simple thing,” Trump said. “You’re talking about a real large country — them — very large country making a deal. Tremendous hostility, really.”
“So it’s not easy for them. It’s actually not easy from our standpoint either. But we’re getting what we need to get,” he added.
Trump also expressed confidence that an agreement extending the ceasefire and reopening the Strait of Hormuz could be finalized soon — the clearest timeline he has publicly offered to date regarding the negotiations.
“I think you’re talking about over the next week,” Trump said.
The president added that he had not yet approved the memorandum of understanding currently under discussion because “I still have to get a few more points.”
The proposed framework has been the subject of increasingly intensive negotiations after Trump reportedly sought clearer commitments from Tehran regarding its highly enriched uranium stockpile, restrictions on its nuclear program, guarantees Iran would not pursue nuclear weapons, and more explicit language governing the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian officials, meanwhile, have insisted Tehran will submit its own revisions to the proposal while repeatedly warning that the Islamic Republic remains fully prepared for negotiations to collapse.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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