Breaking news: President Donald Trump’s push to finalize a U.S.-Iran peace deal hit a new diplomatic rupture Sunday after he sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Beirut strike and said the signing had been delayed by hours, not canceled.
The new angle is the open Trump-Netanyahu split. Earlier Sunday, the crisis centered on whether the Beirut strike could disrupt talks. By late afternoon, Trump was personally blaming Netanyahu’s timing while still insisting the Iran deal remained within reach.
Trump Turns On Netanyahu Over Beirut Timing
Axios reported that Trump was angered by Israel’s strike on Beirut shortly before the expected signing window and told the outlet that the attack delayed the deal by a few hours. He also said the agreement was still scheduled to move ahead soon.
Sky News carried the same Axios account in its live coverage, reporting that Trump said he confronted Netanyahu after the strike and remained hopeful that the Iran agreement could still be signed Sunday.
The Strike Still Complicates The Deal
The Associated Press reported that Israel said it struck Hezbollah targets in Beirut, potentially complicating efforts to finalize a deal ending the U.S.-Iran war. Lebanese officials said the strike killed three people and wounded 16.
AP also reported that Qatari mediators were in Tehran on Sunday as negotiations continued. The draft agreement is expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and pause hostilities, while leaving harder questions around Iran’s nuclear program and frozen funds for follow-up talks.
Tehran Questions U.S. Control Over Israel
Euronews reported that Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf argued the Beirut strike showed Washington either lacked the will or capacity to meet its commitments. Iranian state media also said Tehran had not yet made a final decision on the proposed deal.
That response matters because the Trump administration is asking Iran to accept a preliminary framework while Israel continues to act against Hezbollah in Lebanon. For Tehran, the strike becomes a test of whether Washington can actually enforce the regional calm the deal requires.
Why This Is The New Pressure Point
Trump’s public restraint message was already significant. His reported private anger at Netanyahu raises the stakes further because it turns the final signing window into a test of U.S. leverage over Israel as much as U.S. leverage over Iran.
If the deal is signed, the Beirut strike may be remembered as a late disruption that failed to derail it. If it slips again, the rupture between Trump and Netanyahu will become central to why the diplomacy stalled.
For now, the agreement is still alive. But the crisis has moved from a technical signing timetable to a blunt question: can Washington keep its closest regional partner from blowing up the deal it is asking Tehran to accept?