Trump Urges Iran to Return to Talks, Asks Israel Not to Retaliate

US President Donald Trump. (Wikimedia Commons/Official White House/Daniel Torok)

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Iran to return to negotiations after missile attacks on Israel, while calling on Tel Aviv not to retaliate, saying more time was needed for diplomacy, according to media reports.

"You've fired your missiles, that's enough. Come back to the negotiating table and make a deal," President Trump told Fox News, referring to Iran, Anadolu (8/6) reported.

President Trump himself predicted that an agreement with the State of the Mullahs could be signed "Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday this week."

The Iranian missile attack came in response to repeated Israeli attacks in Lebanon despite several US-mediated ceasefires, including an attack on Hezbollah positions in Beirut on Sunday.

Tehran says a permanent Israeli ceasefire in Lebanon must be imposed before any deal with Washington can be reached.

Separately, a senior US official, as reported by Axios, said the Trump administration did not authorize an Israeli attack on Beirut, adding that he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call to delay further action because "we were close to reaching a good deal."

Netanyahu initially refused but eventually "halfheartedly agreed" to step down, the official said, noting Sunday's phone call was much calmer than the tense exchange between the two leaders last week, with President Trump not raising his voice.

"We think the president is buying some time. He's pretty confident that we're close to reaching an agreement with Iran. I don't think anything is going to happen soon in terms of an Israeli attack," the official said.

The official stressed the current stakes.

"We are at a pivotal moment - why risk the potential of a deal when we are in the fourth quarter. The president thinks that we have been in this situation for three months - now is the time to end this," the official added.

The Iranian attacks, which targeted Haifa and Nazareth, were the first in Israeli territory since the April 8 ceasefire and came after an Israeli attack on the southern outskirts of Beirut on Sunday morning.

Responding to Israel's attack on Lebanon, President Trump stressed that the military action was "not coordinated with the United States." He said he was "not happy" with the attack targeting Hezbollah in Beirut.

He also said that Iran's attack "didn't hurt anyone" and that he hoped Israel would not retaliate, because a counterattack "would just continue like the last 47 years or the last 3,000 years."

The president also spoke briefly to the New York Post and said "everything is going very well."

President Trump previously said he was "worried" about Netanyahu's position, which "continuously clashed" with Lebanon.