‘You just gotta calm down’: Trump says he told Israel to agree ceasefire with Hezbollah – as it happened

Donald Trump will make a rare trip to Camp David ⁠this weekend, ⁠returning to the Maryland presidential retreat for only the second time since retaking office last year.

While he’s there, the US president will hold policy and political meetings, a White House official told Reuters. His family will travel with him for the weekend, which includes Father’s Day on Sunday.

The trip comes as Trump works to secure a final agreement to end his war against Iran and faces scrutiny ⁠over a provisional peace deal that critics say grants Tehran too many concessions and fixes nothing for the US president other than problems his war caused.

As we’ve been reporting US-Iran ​talks in Switzerland planned for ‌Friday were abruptly cancelled as fighting ‌between Israel and Hezbollah flared in Lebanon despite reports of a ceasefire coming into effect, creating new uncertainty about the timing of negotiations vital ‌to ensure the reopening of the critical strait of Hormuz to global shipping and restoring peace in the region.

Trump last visited Camp ​David in June 2025, meeting with top military leaders and foreign policy advisers to discuss immigration protests in California, Iran and Israel’s war in Gaza.

The next round ⁠of Israel-Lebanon talks will be ⁠held on 23–25 June ⁠​in Washington, the US state ⁠department said on Friday, following a ⁠call between the US ​secretary ‌of state, Marco ‌Rubio, and the Lebanese ‌president, Joseph Aoun.

Rubio “reiterated the need to disarm” Hezbollah and reaffirmed US “support ‌for the government of Lebanon’s efforts to ​create a fully sovereign Lebanese state that is ⁠at peace with all ​its ​neighbors”, state ​department spokesperson Tommy ​Pigott said ‌in ​a ​statement.

Aoun emphasised the “necessity of halting Israeli aggressions on Lebanese territories through the achievement of a comprehensive ceasefire”, the Lebanese presidency said in a statement.

Lebanon considers this a “fundamental pillar” for advancing the negotiations in Washington next week “to reach the fixed objectives from which these negotiations were launched, aimed at restoring Lebanon’s security, stability, sovereignty and the integrity of its territories”.

Donald ⁠Trump told NBC News ⁠in a phone ⁠interview that ​he spoke with Israel ⁠on Friday and asked them to ⁠agree to ​a ‌ceasefire ‌with Hezbollah.

“‘You just gotta calm down sometimes and use your head,’” Trump ‌was quoted as telling Israel.

Trump declined ​to specify ​whether ​he spoke ​with ‌Benjamin ​Netanyahu directly.

A senior US official earlier confirmed the ceasefire to Reuters, though Israeli attacks continue across Lebanon.

The Israeli military killed at least 47 people on Friday, and wounded 97 others, across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The ministry reports that the deadliest attack was reported in Harouf, where nine people, including three women, were killed and 14 others were wounded.

This would make it the second deadliest day since the tensions between Lebanon and Israel rose in March.

The airstrikes took place from midnight until the afternoon on Friday, and were in response to Iranian-backed Hezbollah killing four Israeli soldiers, according to Israel.

The ministry reports that 3,980 people have been killed and 12,001 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since 2 March.

Human Rights Watch has said that Israel’s “killing of civilians” and “displacement of hundreds of thousands” of people have “continued unabated despite the declaration of a ceasefire”.

A senior EU official has welcomed a plan to draw up options related to the EU’s trade with illegal settlements on the West Bank.

In a draft summit communiqué EU leaders expressed “grave concern over the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the West Bank, including the persistent and devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.

Earlier this week the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas promised “a list of options for possible trade measures, including measures aimed at preventing imports of goods originating from illegal settlements” before the next meeting of EU foreign ministers in mid July.

Speaking after an EU summit, the European Council president welcomed the decision to draw up an options paper – a move critics are likely to say falls well short of what the bloc should be doing.

EU leaders have faced blistering criticism from more than 450 former politicians and senior officials for “failure to show moral and political leadership” over Israel’s conduct towards Palestinians. The group, who signed an editorial calling for the suspension of preferential trade with Israel, includes former prime ministers, Stefan Löfven of Sweden, Leo Varadkar of Ireland and Romano Prodi of Italy, who also led the European Commission.

Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, said on Friday his country was looking for proposals on the illegal settlements. “I think that Europe has to send a very clear signal that what has been happening and what continues to happen is unacceptable, in Gaza and in the West Bank in particular and in Lebanon.”

More than 1.2m Europeans have called on the bloc to suspend an EU-Israel association agreement, a prospect that is out of reach as it requires unanimity.

Israeli airstrikes across southern and eastern Lebanon today have killed at least 21 people, according to the Lebanese health officials.

The IDF also announced four of its soldiers were killed in Lebanon as violence escalated between the Israeli military and Hezbollah overnight.

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed 18 people and wounded 33, the country’s health ministry said, according to the state-run National News Agency. Another three people were killed and six injured in attacks in the eastern Baalbek area, which had been largely spared since the start of the renewed conflict in March.

The IDF said the strikes were in response to “repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah”.

Effie Defrin, a spokesperson for the Israeli military, said the IDF will remain in southern Lebanon and “carry on with its mission until ordered otherwise” to protect civilians in northern Israel.

Addressing the reported ceasefire during a press briefing, he said: “Our objective and mission are very clear. Anything concerning any agreements is a matter for the government.

“As long as we haven’t received different orders, we’ll act in accordance with the army’s chief of staff’s orders.”

In a post on social media, the IDF said it launched more than 150 strikes in Lebanon since midnight.

Hezbollah has implemented the ceasefire with Israel that was due to take effect from 4pm today, two sources from the Iran-backed group told Reuters.

The news agency reported the sources saying: “As soon as we got word of the ceasefire we applied it from our end.”

Several other media outlets including AP, AFP and the Times of Israel have cited sources confirming the ceasefire in Lebanon, which was reportedly mediated by Qatar, Iran and the US.

Donald Trump has again defended his deal with Iran in a series of posts on Truth Social, hitting out at critics who believe the memorandum of understanding signed on Wednesday is more generous to Tehran than Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal.

Trump wrote:

The War has diminished Iran! It doesn’t, any longer, have an Air Force, a Navy, Antiaircraft Equipment, Radar, or practically anything else, and yet the Dumocrats say that Iran is better off now than it was four months ago. Can you imagine getting away with that??? How stupid can some people be???”

He added:

We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did. They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!”

Reuters has issued an alert saying Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire starting today at 4pm local time, according to a senior US official.

The news agency reported the following:

“Hezbollah and ‌Israel have agreed ‌to a ceasefire,” the official said on background, adding that negotiators ‌for the US and Qataris worked ​out the deal with help from Iran.

“We understand ⁠that after the ​exchange of ​fire ​earlier today, Israel and ​Hezbollah ‌are ​now ​in a ceasefire.”

We will bring you more as we get it.

The president of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, condemned Israel’s attacks in his country as “a dangerous and reprehensible escalation”.

In a statement issued by the Lebanese presidency, Aoun said the Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon “effectively undermine all ongoing attempts to consolidate the ceasefire and end the war”.

The statement said:

What we are witnessing today in the south and the Bekaa – an escalation of Israeli attacks and further killing and destruction – constitutes a dangerous and reprehensible escalation, particularly as it has affected dozens of innocent people, including women and children, and effectively undermines all ongoing attempts to consolidate the ceasefire and end the war, particularly following the recent developments between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

However, this will not prevent us from working to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire as soon as possible; this is what I have recommended to the Lebanese negotiating delegation for the forthcoming round of talks in Washington. There can be no compromise on this issue, as a comprehensive ceasefire is the prerequisite for discussing other matters, the most important of which are the Israeli withdrawal, the deployment of the army and the return of prisoners.”

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a message of condolence following the deaths of four Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, as he vowed revenge against Hezbollah.

In a statement on social media, he confirmed one of the soldiers killed as Lt Col Dor Gadliah Ben Simhon, while the names of the other three have yet to be released.

“May their blood be avenged, and I wish a full recovery to the wounded in yesterday’s exchange of fire,” he said.

“Following the heinous attack by Hezbollah, which was a blatant violation of the ceasefire, I instructed the IDF last night to strike Hezbollah with full force.”

He added:

My directive is clear: Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or our territory, and it will exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah for these attacks.

The IDF will act to thwart any threat to our forces and our territory.

As I made unequivocally clear, including yesterday: Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as necessary to protect the settlements in the north.”

The IDF’s so-called “security zone” stretches 10km (more than 6 miles) into Lebanese territory from the northern Israeli border, where it has forced thousands of people to flee their homes in mass “evacuation” orders.

Donald Trump has repeated his view that if it weren’t for him “Israel would not exist today”.

He made the remarks to American news outlet Axios, which has released snippets of a 45-minute interview with the US president that has yet to be broadcast.

“If it weren’t for me, Israel would not exist today,” Trump said, adding that his relationship with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane”.

He made a similar statement earlier this week at the G7 summit in France. “Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,” he said in pointed remarks aimed at the country amid its ongoing attacks on Lebanon.

Speaking to Axios, Trump also named China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi as the world leaders he most admires, describing them as “all business” and “a very tough cookie”, respectively.

The IDF said four of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon as fighting intensifies between the Israeli miltiary and Hezbollah.

One of the soldiers was identified as Lt Col Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, with the IDF saying he was killed in action. The military said the three other soldiers will be identified later.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency has said at least 16 people have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, which Israel’s military said were ongoing, while Hezbollah said there was intense fighting in the area.

The fighting poses a threat to the new US-Iran agreement on ending the war, which calls for an immediate halt of military operations “on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.

The deal also calls for ensuring the “territorial integrity and sovereignty” of Lebanon, where Israel has been battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out any immediate withdrawal from southern Lebanon, saying Israeli forces will stay there “for as long as necessary”.

As just mentioned, Donald Trump said on Thursday the US expected “a ⁠complete ceasefire on all fronts, including ⁠Lebanon, Hezbollah ​and Israel”, also encouraging “everyone ‌in the ‌Middle East region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations ‌to beautifully unfold”.

Welcome to our continuing live coverage of events in the Middle East.

Israel’s military says it is attacking Hezbollah in several areas across southern Lebanon and has been striking throughout Thursday night.

It said on Telegram that the strikes on “Hezbollah terrorists and infrastructure sites” came after “repeated violations of the ceasefire” by the Iran-backed grup.

It was earlier reported that three people had been killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese state media. Hezbollah had said its fighters were engaged in fresh clashes with the Israeli military on Thursday.

The strikes have occurred despite the US-Iran agreement stipulating an end of the war on all fronts in the Middle East, including Lebanon.

Meanwhile, talks set to take place on Friday between the ⁠US ⁠and ​Iran on implementing the 14-point agreement to end their war have been cancelled, Switzerland’s foreign ministry has announced.

Vice-president JD Vance has postponed his trip to Switzerland, casting uncertainly over what happens next.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency said “nothing has been confirmed” about the Iranian delegation’s trip to Switzerland. A White House spokesperson said the US looked forward to starting “technical talks as soon as possible”.

In other key developments:

• Vance lashed out at Israeli critics of the Iran deal, saying Donald Trump was Israel’s only ally left in the world, in a sharp rebuke that referenced the billions in defence aid ⁠the country receives from America. Trump “is the only head of state in the entire world ‌who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this ‌moment in time”, Vance told reporters.

• Trump said on Thursday the ​US expected “a ⁠complete ceasefire on all fronts, including ⁠Lebanon, Hezbollah ​and Israel”, adding in a social media post: “We ‌encourage everyone ‌in the ‌Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations ‌to beautifully unfold.”

• Iran’s supreme leader said he approved the deal with the US despite having a “different view”, without elaborating. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in message read on state television: “In principle, I had a different view [about the memorandum of understanding], but I issued my permission due to the commitment that the honourable [Iranian] president, as the chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, gave me on behalf of himself and other members to protect the rights of the Iranian nation and the resistance front.”

• In Khamenei’s message on Thursday – his first reaction to the Iran-US deal – he claimed Trump had “used all kinds of levers” to secure the deal “out of desperation”. The US president has claimed the agreement is a victory for Washington and averts a “worldwide depression”.

• Iran announced plans to introduce a system of maritime fees in the strait of Hormuz after the 60-day period of negotiation triggered by the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the US. Tehran, claiming a historic victory over the US, said the strait was under its control and a European plan for a naval mission to escort ships though the vital waterway would not be welcome, reports Patrick Wintour.

• Vance said the 60-day period in which to reach a final agreement with Iran started on Thursday. That would set a deadline for the final agreement between Iran and the US as 17 August.

• US Central Command ended its blockade in the Hormuz strait, it announced on social media. The US naval blockade of the strait had been in effect since 13 April, with control of the waterway being a key point of conflict in the war. Marine Traffic data showed that at least seven ships had crossed the strait on Thursday.

• The US would restart military action and ⁠reimpose a ⁠blockade ​against Iran if it did not fulfil its commitments ⁠under the signed agreement, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said at a meeting with Nato defence ministers in Brussels.

• Khamenei said in his message that he received assurances from the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, about the deal and that it would not be accepted “if the American side wants to make excessive demands”. “It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s point of view,” he added.

• EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she was representing the bloc’s position on the Middle East, after Israel announced it was severing diplomatic relations over allegations she had compared the country to apartheid South Africa.