DUBAI: Iran has reaffirmed support for its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and demanded Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon, underscoring complications facing an interim deal to end the broader conflict between the US and Iran.In another development, a potential agreement between Washington and Tehran hinges on US President Donald Trump's administration agreeing to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, CNN quoted Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, as saying on Friday.Iran has made a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah a condition for any peace deal with Washington to resolve the regional war, now in its fourth month, and restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.The latest round of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel erupted at the start of March, two days after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran. Hezbollah said its actions were in support of Tehran."This war will end only when it ends in Lebanon as well," Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen late on Thursday.How Trump's ceasefires are failing to stop Middle East violence"The end of the war on Lebanon must be accompanied by the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they have occupied," he said. The comments came after Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected a US-brokered pact between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt the fighting in Lebanon. The deal did not provide for an Israeli withdrawal and Hezbollah had not been party to the negotiations. Israel has kept up strikes in southern Lebanon, and has said its forces would not withdraw or halt operations in the country amid increasing friction with the US.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, meanwhile, accused Iran of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the US on Friday, in some of his toughest criticism yet of Tehran. 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."Iran-related sanctions on 12The US imposed new Iran-related sanctions on Friday, targeting several entities, individuals and LPG tankers, the US Treasury Department's website showed.Trump says he does not need deal with Iran to get enriched uraniumAmong 12 entities designated are five that are based in the Marshall Islands, four in the UAE, and one in China, according to details posted to the department's website.Six vessels were targeted, including four Panama-flagged tankers.FIGHTING FLARES ACROSS REGIONMohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said Hezbollah had "made great sacrifices in the recent war and it is our ally. Therefore, we support Hezbollah and remain firmly committed to our obligations toward it."In comments reported by the semi-official Mehr news agency, he cautioned Israel against following through on threats to resume strikes against the Lebanese capital of Beirut."Today we again warn this sinister regime to leave Lebanon. They should know that Lebanon will be an inseparable part of any agreement and any ceasefire."