Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Hajj Hassan told AFP on Thursday that the Lebanese government's decision to hold direct negotiations with Israel was a "grave error", urging authorities to stop making concessions to Israel and the United States.

Israel's defense minister warned Iran on Thursday against rejecting a U.S. proposal focused on renouncing "nuclear armament" and vowed to stage "even more painful" strikes on new targets if it did so.

"Iran is standing at a historic crossroads: one path is renouncing the ways of terror and nuclear armament... in line with the US proposal, the other leads to an abyss," Israel Katz said.

Visiting British Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer on Thursday called for a ceasefire in Lebanon where Israel and Hezbollah are at war, and welcomed direct talks between Israel and Lebanon.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war on March 2 after militant group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in support of its backer Iran. Israel has responded with huge strikes and a ground invasion in the country's south.

Iran's prominent speaker of parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told his Lebanese counterpart on Thursday that a ceasefire in Lebanon was "as important" as in Iran, according to a statement posted on Telegram.

In talks to end the war between Iran and the United States, Ghalibaf said Tehran has "been striving to compel our enemies to establish a permanent ceasefire in all the conflict zones, in accordance with the agreement. For us, a ceasefire in Lebanon is just as important as a ceasefire in Iran," he said, in a phone conversation with Nabih Berri.

President Joseph Aoun on Thursday stressed the importance of a ceasefire before any direct negotiations with Israel, ahead of possible talks with Israel's leader that Beirut has not confirmed will take place.

"The ceasefire requested by Lebanon with Israel is the natural starting point for direct negotiations between the two countries," Aoun said in a statement.

The Israeli military carried out two strikes against a key bridge in the south of Lebanon on Thursday, destroying it, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.

"Enemy aircraft carried out two consecutive strikes on the Qasmieh bridge, the last bridge between the Tyre and Sidon regions, completely destroying it," the NNA said.

The influential chief of Pakistan's armed forces visited Iran to meet the head of Tehran's negotiators on Thursday, as Washington considers agreeing to another round of peace talks in Islamabad.

Iranian state television showed Field Marshal Asim Munir meeting Iran's speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian delegation at the first U.S.-Iran meeting in Pakistan last week, which ended without a deal.

Lebanon is "not aware" of any upcoming contact with Israel, an official source told AFP, after U.S. President Donald Trump said the leaders of leaders of Lebanon and Israel would speak on Thursday.

"We are not aware of any planned contact with the Israeli side, and we have not been informed of any through official channels," the source said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said Israel's top priority was to secure the "dismantling" of Hezbollah in its first direct talks with Lebanon in decades.

"In the negotiations with Lebanon, there are two central objectives: first, the dismantling of Hezbollah; second, a sustainable peace... achieved through strength," he said.

Israel hailed on Wednesday the opening of direct talks with Beirut as a "historic opportunity" that could end Hezbollah's "stranglehold" on Lebanon.

"This is indeed a genuine historic opportunity to end decades of Hezbollah stranglehold over Lebanon," Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told a press briefing, while insisting there was "no ceasefire discussion" with the Iran-backed group.