Trump blasts Netanyahu over Beirut raid that delayed Iran deal by hours, insists electronic signing still on for today

The Beirut strike

On Sunday morning, Israeli warplanes struck the Dahiyeh district in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Lebanese media reported at least 3 killed and 15 wounded. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the attack was a response to Hezbollah fire across Israel's northern border.

Trump's fury

The raid came just as Washington and Tehran were hours away from the electronic signing of a memorandum of understanding negotiated under Pakistani mediation. In an interview with Axios, President Donald Trump unleashed an extraordinary personal attack on Netanyahu.

“Why did Bibi have to do that fucking attack? I was so furious. I let him know. He has no fucking judgment.”

Trump said the strike had "messed everything up" and delayed the signing by a few hours. "It was supposed to happen now. Now it's scheduled for a few hours from now," he added. Still, he insisted the deal would be signed electronically later that day, with an in-person ceremony to follow in Europe a week later.

Iran's warning

Iranian armed forces commander Ali Abdollahi said his forces were on high alert.

“We have our finger on the trigger.”

Iran's negotiator, Mohammad Ghalibaf, accused the United States of giving a green light to the Israeli operation.

“If you have neither the will nor the capacity to fulfill your commitments, it is not possible to speak of proceeding down this path.”

The Fars news agency, citing a source close to Iran's negotiating team, reported that the agreement had not yet been finalized and cast doubt on Trump's timeline.

The Pentagon's optimism

Despite the diplomatic firestorm, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS's "Face the Nation" that the memorandum remained on course. He described Israel's response as 

“very measured”

and stressed the agreement was a matter of "when, not if." Hegseth added, however, that responsibility lay with Tehran, which had yet to fully commit.

What the memorandum includes

The draft accord, known as the Islamabad memorandum, aims to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, lift the US blockade on Iranian ports, and establish a 60-day ceasefire. It is intended to create space for detailed technical negotiations on Iran's nuclear and missile programs. For Trump, the agreement had become a major foreign policy goal on his 80th birthday, but Netanyahu's government has long viewed any deal that leaves Hezbollah intact and Iran's nuclear ambitions unaddressed as a strategic failure. The pattern is familiar: in June 2025, an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites triggered a twelve-day war; in September 2025, a raid on Hamas leaders in Doha nearly derailed Qatari mediation.