Iran warned a military response was coming. Trump reacted on social media: “We are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon" and “Let’s not blow it!"
Trump later told Fox News he still expected an agreement with Iran to be signed in the coming hours and planned to ask Tehran not to respond to Israel’s strikes.
The emerging deal is a disappointment to Israel's government, which has been sidelined in negotiations led by Pakistan and others. The last time Israel struck Beirut's suburbs a week ago, it set off the most serious escalation of fighting between Iran and Israel since the tenuous ceasefire took hold April 7.
Trump has pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop hitting Lebanon hard while a deal is near, but the prime minister has defied him.
Trump told Fox News he had asked Netanyahu what he was doing, using an expletive.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged “maximum restraint at this crucial moment.”
Trump says ‘this important process’ shouldn't be disrupted
Netanyahu's office said the strikes were in response to Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel. Israel’s military said Hezbollah launched three projectiles. There was no immediate comment from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Israel's military later said it was preparing for potential incoming fire in the coming hours.
Trump described the attack on northern Israel as “very small and meaningless, nobody was hurt, injured, or killed, and should not disrupt this important process."
An Associated Press photographer at the scene in Beirut said a five-story apartment building with shops on the ground floor was struck. Residents of the southern suburbs, many of whom had returned home after weeks of relative calm, could be seen fleeing.
Israel's military later reported a projectile coming from Lebanon.
Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, sparking war in the Middle East. Israeli troops have since pushed their invasion of Lebanon deeper than at any point in over a quarter century.
Iran wants a ceasefire deal to include the fighting in Lebanon. It’s unclear whether that would mean Israeli forces' withdrawal. Most of Hezbollah's attacks in recent weeks have targeted Israeli troops inside Lebanon.
