Any agreement between the United States and Iran can also help lower tensions in Lebanon, where a separate truce was under renewed strain after an Israeli strike on southern Beirut killed a commander from militant group Hezbollah on Wednesday.

But recent violence threatens to unravel the fragile truce in effect since April 8 that brought an end to weeks of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.

The U.S. military said it carried out strikes on Iranian military targets in response, although Tehran charged that it was Washington that had initiated the exchange of fire.

The latest violence threatens to unravel a fragile truce in effect since April 8 that brought an end to weeks of U.S.-Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic, which has retaliated with strikes across the Middle East and by blocking the strait, a vital route for oil and gas shipments.

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed a member of the civil defense, the rescue organization said Friday, a day after another strike killed a rescuer from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee.

In a statement, the civil defense said their rescuer was killed "as a result of an Israeli strike that targeted him" on the road between Rashaya and Kfarshouba, despite the truce in effect.

Lebanon and Israel will hold a new round of talks on May 14-15 in Washington on seeking a peace deal, a U.S. official said.

"There will be talks between Lebanon and Israel Thursday and Friday next week in Washington," a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday claimed responsibility for the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut the previous day, saying "no terrorist is immune" from Israeli strikes.

"Last night, we eliminated, in the heart of Beirut, the commander of Hezbollah's Radwan force," Netanyahu said, in a video released by his office, referring to an elite Hezbollah unit.

The Israeli military said Thursday it would investigate after a soldier was photographed placing a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon.

An image appearing to show an Israeli soldier with his arm around the revered Christian figure and holding a cigarette up to her mouth was widely shared on social media on Wednesday.

In Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Israeli strikes reduced a building complex to a metal shell, student Rana walked towards her home, though like many others she fears the full-scale eruption of war again.

The Israelis “are not reliable, they can strike again at any moment,” said the young woman, refusing to give her full name.

The Israeli military said in a statement Thursday that an "explosive drone impact" had wounded four of its soldiers -- one severely -- in southern Lebanon the previous day.

Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs Wednesday in the first such attack in nearly a month, killing a senior Hezbollah commander from its elite Radwan force.

Iran denied on Thursday attacking a South Korean cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz this week, as U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal to end the war was "very possible" but warned Washington would resume bombing if talks failed.

Tehran's embassy in Seoul said it "firmly rejects and categorically denies" allegations that its armed forces were behind a blast aboard the Panama-flagged HMM Namu, which caught fire on Monday while transiting the strategic waterway with 24 crew members on board.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a deal with Iran to end the Middle East war was "very possible" following "very good talks" over the past day.

"We've had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it's very possible that we'll make a deal," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.