President Donald Trump revealed Monday that he warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel could find itself fighting Iran without American support if it chose to escalate the conflict further, while claiming that Washington received only last-minute notification of Israel’s overnight strikes against Iran and that he had succeeded in limiting their scope.

Speaking in a phone conversation with Channel 12’s Barak Ravid, Trump said that during a phone call with Netanyahu on Sunday night he had urged the prime minister not to respond to Iran’s ballistic missile attacks. According to the Hebrew-language network, the conversation ended without a definitive conclusion. Several of Trump’s aides who were present on the call told Channel 12 they came away with the impression that Trump had succeeded in buying a few more days without Israeli retaliation, in order to allow ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear talks to proceed.

Following that call, however, Netanyahu convened consultations with senior security officials, after which he informed Secretary of State Marco Rubio that he had decided to proceed with strikes inside Iran.

Trump told Channel 12 that Israel informed Washington of the impending strikes very late — only as the missiles were already airborne — and maintained that he had managed to scale back the scope of the attack. Five regional countries involved in mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran, he added, had urged him to press Netanyahu to halt the strikes and advance a diplomatic agreement.

A separate Channel 12 report offered a detailed account of the back-and-forth communications between Jerusalem and Washington throughout the day’s escalation. Following Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut on Sunday afternoon, Washington conveyed its displeasure to Israeli officials. Israel responded that the strike had been measured and unavoidable given ongoing Hezbollah rocket fire on northern Israel.

After Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel in support of Hezbollah Sunday night, Netanyahu held what was described as a tense phone call with Trump. During the exchange, Trump urged Netanyahu not to respond to the Iranian attacks and said the U.S. would not provide a “green light” for Israeli action, while acknowledging that Netanyahu had his “own calculations.” Netanyahu reportedly replied: “The Iranians violated our sovereignty. We have to draw a red line.”

Channel 12 reported a notable discrepancy in how Israeli officials characterized the outcome of that conversation: some said Trump left the call believing Israel would not strike, while others said Trump understood from Netanyahu’s remarks that Israel intended to proceed regardless.

Israel did carry out strikes against Iran overnight and again Monday morning. Iran fired two additional rounds of missiles in response before approaching the Trump administration with an offer to halt further attacks — on the condition that Israel do the same. Trump said Monday morning that after Iranian officials reached out to Washington with that message, he called Netanyahu again and persuaded him to agree to stand down.

During a second Trump-Netanyahu conversation Monday, Netanyahu justified the decision to strike, telling the president that Israel had assessed the strikes “would not lead to a [full-blown] war,” according to the report. Channel 12 noted an apparent tension in that argument, given that Israel had simultaneously been preparing a far larger follow-on operation.

As Iran’s ceasefire overture was being relayed to Washington, a major Israeli military operation was simultaneously being finalized at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv. Around 4:30 p.m. Monday, Netanyahu reportedly approved the operation — only to be called by Trump minutes later and instructed to halt any further strikes so that Washington could pursue a diplomatic deal with Tehran.

Israeli officials gave conflicting accounts of that final conversation: some described it as a discussion characterized by mutual understanding, while others portrayed it as an effective directive from the president. In either case, Netanyahu agreed to halt the operation — a decision that, according to Channel 12, created “considerable confusion” within the military high command, as aircraft had already been prepared for takeoff.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports.

Trump reiterated Monday that he believes a nuclear agreement with Iran remains achievable, that Tehran is willing to sign one, and that such a deal would be beneficial. He had told Fox News last week that he believed he had been within days of finalizing an agreement with Iran before the current round of fighting broke out.