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Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called the strike against its military a “flagrant violation” of the country’s sovereignty and international law during an “ongoing escalation that threatens stability and security in the south.”

An airstrike on a vehicle on a road linking Nabatiyeh city with Marjayoun town killed a brigadier general, a captain and another soldier, the army said, without releasing their names. Another airstrike on Saksakiyah village killed six people and wounded four, the state-run National News Agency said.

Lebanon’s army said the “continued, deliberate, and repeated Israeli aggression” aims to thwart efforts toward a solution “that would restore stability, establish a comprehensive ceasefire and lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.”

The Israeli military confirmed hitting a vehicle and said it was “moving suspiciously” toward soldiers near Kfar Tibnit village, after the military received “concrete indications” that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group would direct fire toward Israeli soldiers from the same area.

The military said it operates against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese army.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military announced the deaths of two soldiers in southern Lebanon, without the dates they died.

The latest ceasefire, announced in Washington, came through U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities. Hezbollah has refused the truce.

Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing farther into the country’s south than at any time since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation. More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. began attacking Iran.

Israel has since launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and carried out attacks that have displaced more than 1 million people. The fighting has killed at least 31 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.

On Friday, Aoun and Lebanon’s prime minister criticized Iran for opposing the latest ceasefire deal, saying Tehran should not use their country as a “bargaining chip” in its talks with Washington. Iran wants a ceasefire deal with the United States to include the situation in Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded Saturday on X, saying that after Aoun’s comments, “one would think it’s Iran that has occupied a fifth of Lebanon, displaced a quarter of Lebanese and is bombing his country on daily basis.”

“Had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran, we’d have a deal long ago. Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President,” Araghchi added, in reference to Israel.

CAIRO (AP) — Iran fired ballistic missiles and drones toward Bahrain and Kuwait that were intercepted early Saturday, Bahrain’s government said, and called on Tehran to halt attacks on Gulf neighbors that test a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East conflict.

Iran said that it targeted American military assets in both countries, after the U.S. attacked surveillance facilities on Qeshm Island and near Sirik that Iran said were used to protect borders and “ensure the security of navigation in international waters.” Tehran called the attack a ceasefire violation.

The latest exchange of fire came as the Trump administration presses Iran to make a deal to end the war, which has strained the global economy and threatened a hunger crisis in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.

Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, arrived in Iran on Saturday as part of mediation efforts.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is seeking to ratchet up economic pressure on Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department is considering allowing Gulf allies to tap into frozen Iranian assets to pay for damages they sustained in the war, according to a person familiar with Secretary Scott Bessent’s thinking who spoke Saturday on condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations.

Iran says it targeted US air base and Navy

The U.S. military said it shot down several Iranian missiles and drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf Arab allies, and struck some of the Islamic Republic’s coastal surveillance radar sites in response.

“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” U.S. Central Command said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the Ali Al Salem air base, which hosts U.S. forces in Kuwait, and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The U.S. military said there were no reports of harm to U.S. personnel.

Earlier in the week, Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport, killing one person and wounding dozens.

The U.S. military kept up its blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s grip on the strait, a crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments. Energy prices have spiked, posing political problems for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican Party before the midterm congressional election.

Deals remain elusive

Trump increasingly appears to be boxed in. U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement a week ago to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program. Trump, however, has called for unspecified changes, and Iranian officials have shown no public sign of agreeing to the deal.

The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south while saying it targets the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, also challenges efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extends to Lebanon.

The Trump administration has touted the latest ceasefire agreed to earlier in the week by the Lebanese government and Israel after U.S.-brokered talks in Washington. However, Hezbollah has rejected the agreement.

Ratcheting up financial pressure

Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former Iranian sanctions expert at the Treasury Department, said it’s significant that the U.S. is signaling it could allow Gulf countries to access some of the $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets stored abroad.

Iran had been seeking some of the funds as part of a deal, and rather than offering Tehran that concession, the U.S. is pressuring them to move quickly.

“So the U.S. government is saying: ’Hey, not just that we’re not going to give you these funds. As a matter of fact, we’re going to take these funds from you, and we’re going to help Gulf states to take it,” Maleki said.

Allowing Gulf states to use the frozen assets would also bolster U.S. ties there, he said. It would send a clear signal that America is sticking with its partners as they’ve sustained attacks and repercussions from the war.

However, Maleki said some Gulf states may be reluctant to use the funds out of concern that they could face retaliation from Iran for doing so.

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Michelle L. Price reported from Bridgewater, New Jersey. Munir Ahmed contributed to this report from Islamabad.