US President Donald Trump announced that the United States and Iran have finalized a memorandum of understanding to end their months-long war, hours after he launched a violent attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for trying to sabotage the agreement with a last-minute strike in Beirut.Trump told Axios that the deal is “now complete” and remains on track for formal signing in Switzerland on Friday, despite what he described as “Netanyahu’s damned attack” that nearly derailed the negotiations.“He shook it up. He delayed the signing by a few hours. It was supposed to happen now. And now the signing is scheduled to happen a few hours from now,” Trump said in a phone call before the agreement was finalized. Hours later, he confirmed on Truth Social that “the agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete.”Trump said he was shocked when his advisers called him to brief him on the Israeli raid in Beirut, which occurred hours before the United States and Iran signed the agreement.“It’s too bad – I couldn’t believe it. An hour before the deal was supposed to be signed,” he said.Trump admitted that Hezbollah attacked Israel first, but stressed that it did not cause any damage and no one was killed.“Why did Pepe have to attack? I was so angry.
I told him. He has no judgment. “I told him that,” Trump said.Trump claimed that the agreement would be beneficial to Israel because it would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, require the disposal of nuclear materials and allow for surprise inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities.Despite the agreement, Iranian officials continued to warn of retaliation for the Israeli raid in Beirut. A senior Iranian military official said they had their “finger on the trigger” and were ready to shoot “into the heart of the enemy.”Channel 12 reported that Israeli officials were stunned by Trump’s public criticism of Netanyahu. A senior Israeli official close to Netanyahu told the Hebrew network that “Trump’s statement is a resounding slap in the face.”The report added that during one of his recent conversations with Netanyahu, Trump suggested that Israel effectively withdraw from southern Lebanon as part of the broader understandings being discussed with Iran. Netanyahu reportedly rejected the idea out of hand.
