Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Iran of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the United States on Friday, in ​some of his toughest criticism yet of Tehran and its Lebanese ‌ally Hezbollah as it wages war with Israel.

In a CNN interview, Aoun said “the people of Lebanon are paying the price … for the sake” of Iran’s interests, and were “fed up” with war between Israel ​and Hezbollah - comments reflecting deep divisions along Lebanon’s confessional and political faultlines.

“They are ​using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with the ⁠United States,” Aoun said of Iran, according to excerpts of the interview published on ​the CNN website. “It’s unacceptable.”

Hezbollah, founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, ignited ​the latest hostilities more than three months ago when it opened fire in solidarity with Tehran as the US-Israel attacked Iran.

Aoun, who led the Lebanese military before becoming head of state, ​is a Maronite Christian, as required by Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing arrangements.

He has pressed ​for the peaceful disarmament of Hezbollah since being elected head of state by parliament last year. ‌Early in ⁠the war, he called for face-to-face talks with Israel, further setting him at odds with the group.

Iran has made a Lebanon ceasefire a condition for any peace deal with Washington in the wider regional conflict that began with the US-Israeli attack on ​Tehran on February 28.

On ​Thursday, Hezbollah rejected a ⁠ceasefire plan agreed by Lebanese and Israeli government officials in US-mediated talks in Washington. The deal would be contingent on Hezbollah ​ceasing fire and its fighters withdrawing from southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader ​Naim Qassem ⁠said in a written statement on Thursday that the Washington agreement was rejected by “broad segments of the Lebanese people”.

Addressing Qassem, Aoun said: “The Lebanese people are not your people”.

Israeli attacks ⁠have killed ​thousands of people in Lebanon since March and ​displaced some 1.2 million people, Lebanese authorities say. Israeli troops have occupied a swathe of southern Lebanon.