U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks to the press aboard Air Force One, during a flight between Andrews Base and Eau Claire, on June 5, 2026. (Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP)
U.S. President Donald Trump called for more "surgical" strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"I'd like to see Lebanon have a better life. I'd like to see a more surgical strike against Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical," he said in an interview with NBC News recorded Friday and aired Sunday.
Trump confirmed in an interview published Wednesday by the New York Post that he had a tense phone call two days earlier with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which he reportedly reprimanded the Israeli leader over Israel's offensive in Lebanon.
Asked whether he was demanding that Lebanon be included in a deal with Iran, Trump responded: "No, no."
"Not at all. I demand nothing. I think they would like that to be the case, but I demand nothing," he said.
Trump said he would like to "separate" discussions about Lebanon from negotiations over a deal with Iran, while Tehran wants to link the two wars.
U.S. and Israeli forces launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, and the Trump administration has spent several weeks trying to negotiate a peace agreement.
"We are very close to a deal, otherwise I am going to make their lives hell," Trump said.
He also said he would not unfreeze Iranian assets or lift sanctions before a peace agreement is reached.
"That comes after the signing of a deal. If they behave well, if they do a good job, we will start to discuss, yes," he added.
Sharaa 'ready to help'
Trump also said Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa was "ready to help" in Lebanon.
"Syria is doing a very good job getting back on track. It has a very good leader. It has a leader who has really done a good job in a very short time. And he would be delighted to help," he told NBC News.
Since the fall of Bashar Assad in 2024, Syria's new authorities have restored diplomatic ties with the United States. Sharaa became the first Syrian leader since the country's independence in 1946 to be received at the White House. He met Trump for the first time in Saudi Arabia during the U.S. president's regional tour in May.
Trump also said he would be willing to speak with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since being wounded in U.S. strikes at the start of the war.
"I don't want to say whether I know where he is or not, but there's a good chance that I do," Trump said.
Senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have said the temporary cease-fire remains in effect despite recent strikes on Iran, describing those actions as defensive.
Israel carried out strikes Sunday on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, saying it was responding to fire targeting its territory despite a cease-fire that has failed to end the violence.
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 3,600 people since the war began on March 2, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israeli strikes kill 20 people in 24 hours in Lebanon 