Trump confirms calling Netanyahu crazy

President Donald Trump, in an interview released Wednesday, confirmed an earlier report that he criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “crazy” in a Monday phone call, saying he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel's fighting of Hezbollah in Lebanon was holding back peace talks with Iran.

But even as the US president acknowledged the tensions, he insisted that his relationship with Netanyahu was solid and they connected, in part, because they're both “wartime” leaders. “We've worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,” Trump told The New York Post's “Pod Force One.”

The president's acknowledgement of the tense call with Netanyahu that involved expletives is a sign of the growing pressure he faces to resolve the Iran war, as higher energy prices and economic uncertainty are harming Republicans going into midterm elections and hampering global commerce. But Trump remained noncommittal about a timeline for settling the conflict, saying the Strait of Hormuz might stay blocked through the Labor Day holiday on September 7.

He has insisted that Iran stop any efforts that could lead to a nuclear weapon and that the strait be reopened for the shipments of oil and natural gas. “I don't know. I mean, I think it could be (closed through Labor Day), but I think it's unlikely. I think that we'll have it. I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly,” Trump said.