Hours earlier, Trump said new strikes by Israel and Iran would not affect his administration’s peace talks with Tehran, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “doesn’t call the shots.”
Trump has leaned on Israel to stop its attacks in Lebanon to allow room for a deal to end the wider war with Iran, including rebuking Netanyahu in a phone call last week.
However, Israel earlier on Sunday launched strikes in the Beirut area for the first time since the US announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week.
Iran fired a salvo of missiles at Israeli targets in retaliation, putting US-Iran peace talks at risk.
But Trump insisted that an agreement to end the wider war remains well within reach.
“It’s not going to have any impact on the deal,” Trump told the Financial Times.
“I call the shots. I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t call the shots.”
A few hours later, Israel’s defence forces said they had struck Iranian military targets.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Israel had carried out attacks on targets inside Iran using air-launched ballistic missiles.
The latest hostilities drove oil prices up more than three percent in early trading on Monday, with benchmark Brent futures back above US$96 a barrel.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted Ramat David air base, near Nazareth.
The Israeli military said it identified missiles launched from Iran and that its defence systems had intercepted them.
Since the start of US-Iran talks aimed at halting the war, Israel has continued attacks in Lebanon in a conflict with Hezbollah that Israeli officials insist should be treated separately from any ceasefire with Iran.
Tehran has long said any peace deal with America would depend on a ceasefire also holding in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters who fired rockets and drones across the border in solidarity with Tehran. (Reuters)
