JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed on June 3 a row with US President Donald Trump, saying they both were aligned on the goal of disarming Hezbollah in order to achieve peace between Israel and Lebanon.

Trump confirmed in an interview published on June 3 in the New York Post that he had a tense exchange with Netanyahu two days prior, in which he reportedly berated his close ally with expletives.

Netanyahu downplayed the dispute in an interview with US television channel CNBC, saying he and Trump were on the same page when it came to tackling Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah “is an Iranian proxy that puts all the citizens of Lebanon at gunpoint and uses Lebanon as a platform to launch terror missiles into our cities, to launch killer drones against our civilians”, Netanyahu said in the interview.

“And so if we want to save Lebanon, if we want to get a Lebanese-Israeli peace, as I do, we have to disarm Hezbollah, and we have to demilitarise Lebanon. And I know that this is a goal that the president and I share, and that’s what we have to do.”

Trump had said he was “perturbed” by the situation in Lebanon when he spoke to Netanyahu on June 1.

“You said, ‘Are you f-ing crazy? What are you f-ing doing? I helped you stay out of jail.’ Is that true? Did you speak to him in those terms?” the New York Post interviewer asked.

“I did,” Trump responded. “I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon.”

“I said, &lsquo...