United States President Donald Trump acknowledged having called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crazy ​in an expletive-filled phone exchange over fighting in Lebanon while the US ‌was trying to negotiate an end to hostilities with Iran.

In an interview broadcast on Wednesday, Trump was asked whether he had called the longtime Israeli leader “effing crazy” and accused him of ingratitude, paraphrasing ​a report by Axios.

“I did,” Trump told the “Pod Force One” podcast. “I wouldn’t say ​angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting ⁠with Lebanon, you know.”

Trump went on to say he and Netanyahu get along ​very well.

According to the Axios report, which cited an unidentified US official, Trump said ​to Netanyahu in a call on Monday: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

Trump said ​in the interview: “At some point, I said, Bibi, we got to stop this. We ​got to stop it.”

Read: Trump, Netanyahu disagree on whether to resume attacking Iran in heated phone call: CNN

Iran has said it will not agree to a deal with the US ⁠to end the war that Trump and Netanyahu launched in late February, unless a ceasefire also covers Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of Hezbollah that fired across the border in support of Tehran.

Hostilities have continued despite a ​US-mediated agreement announced ​on Monday that ⁠led Israel to step back from attacking the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, and the group to halt cross-border strikes.

Israeli ​drone strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon and ​targeted a ⁠car just south of Beirut on Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.

Trump bristled when asked if Netanyahu “tricked” ⁠him into ​attacking Iran, saying his critics were “the enemy”.

Trump has ​used expletives about Israel in the past, including publicly saying last year that Israel and Iran “don’t know what ​the fuck they are doing”.