The U.S. government will attempt to redirect ​Iranian assets to Gulf states for rebuilding and repairs of damage caused by Iran, a source familiar with the matter said, as Tehran followed up a wave of strikes ‌against Kuwait and Bahrain with further drone launches.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has directed a team to assess costs for damages already inflicted on Gulf allies by Iran, the source said, adding that the U.S. will consider using Iranian assets for repairs of any future destruction as well, Reuters reported.

The disclosure came a day after Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, told CNN that a peace deal to end the three-month war hinged on the release of $24 billion in Iranian assets frozen by the United States.

The source on ​Saturday did not specify what kind of assets the Treasury was examining. The language used to describe the new measures did not appear limited to frozen assets.

The threatened redirection of Iranian ​assets could create a new irritant to a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran, which was tested again this weekend with strikes by the ⁠U.S. and Iran.

Peace negotiations appear to have stalled, although a minister from mediator Pakistan traveled to Tehran on Saturday with a letter for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

U.S. forces ​struck Iranian coastal radar sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, both in the Strait of Hormuz, early Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran that U.S. Central Command says posed a threat to maritime ​traffic. A further two Iranian attack drones that were threatening shipping in the strait were also shot down, the U.S. military said late on Saturday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it retaliated against U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, and Kuwait’s army said on Saturday it engaged seven ballistic missiles that passed over residential areas, resulting in material damage but no casualties.

In Bahrain, sirens sounded and residents were urged to seek shelter. Kuwait and Bahrain condemned the strikes.

PAKISTANI MINISTER LANDS IN TEHRAN

Iran later ​said it had hit U.S. bases in both countries with ballistic missiles, but the U.S. military said six missiles were intercepted and a seventh did not reach its target.

The U.S. and Iran have been engaged ​in largely indirect negotiations for an interim deal to halt the three-month-old war that would leave issues including Iran’s nuclear programme to further negotiations.

But a deal has remained elusive while the two sides have periodically skirmished.

Tehran wants access to ‌billions of dollars ⁠in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, the lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ports and leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has effectively blocked the waterway, where about a fifth of global oil traffic transited before the war.

Iranian state media reported that Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran on Saturday for talks with Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

Naqvi said he was carrying a “special letter” from his country’s army chief and prime minister to Khamenei, ISNA reported.

Trump is facing mounting domestic political pressure due to rising gas prices to bring the unpopular war to an end. He told ​NBC that while most of Iran’s drone and missile ​manufacturing facilities had been destroyed, the Iranians ⁠still had access to about a fifth of their missiles.

“They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say percentage wise, maybe 21% to 22% of their missiles. It’s a lot of missiles, but it’s not what it was when we first attacked,” Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” program, according to ​excerpts released by the network on Friday.

The conflict has driven up oil prices and disrupted supply chains for other goods, including humanitarian aid.

FIGHTING FLARES ACROSS REGION DESPITE ​CEASEFIRES

In a parallel conflict in ⁠Lebanon, two Lebanese army officers and a soldier were killed in an Israeli strike on a military vehicle in south Lebanon, the Lebanese army said. The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident.

Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Iran-aligned Hezbollah a condition for any peace deal with Washington.

Lebanon’s army said on Saturday its commander, General Rudolf Haykal, left for Pakistan at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart, without giving further details.

The ⁠surprise visit was ​notable given the insistence by Washington — and by Lebanese leaders, including the president — that ceasefire talks for Lebanon remain separate ​from U.S.-Iran negotiations mediated by Pakistan.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem this week rejected a U.S.-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 said its forces would not withdraw or halt operations in the country amid increasing friction with the U.S.

Iran has reaffirmed support for its Lebanese ally ​Hezbollah and demanded that Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon, underscoring complications facing an interim deal to end the broader conflict between the U.S. and Iran, Reuters reported.

Tehran 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 U.S. 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.

“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 U.S.-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 U.S.

Hezbollah said on Friday it had carried out two attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon, including near the recently captured Beaufort Castle, while Lebanese security services said Israeli airstrikes hit towns across southern Lebanon, read the report.

Mohsen 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, Rezaei cautioned Israel against following through on threats to resume strikes against Beirut, the Lebanese capital.

“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,” he said.

Lebanon’s parliament speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri said on Friday he would agree to the withdrawal of the Iran-backed group from southern Lebanon if ​Israeli troops simultaneously left territory they occupy in the country.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun on Friday accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” in negotiations with the U.S., telling CNN this was “unacceptable”.

Along with Lebanon, residents of ‌Gaza, northern ⁠Israel and Kuwait have all been under fire this week, despite U.S.-arranged ceasefires that President Donald Trump said involved “shooting in a more moderate manner”, rather than a total halt to fighting.

On Friday, Iran’s navy said it had fired warning shots at U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Oman to counter “maritime mischief and harassment and the hijacking of commercial vessels and oil tankers”. Earlier, U.S. forces said they had boarded an oil tanker in the Indian Ocean and that they would continue to block “vessels providing material support to Iran”.

The U.S. Central Command denied Iran’s claims.

“Iranian forces did NOT attack or fire at U.S. Navy warships. Doing so would be ​a gross violation of the ceasefire,” Central Command ​said in a statement on X.

In Oman, an ⁠alleged drone attack forced the suspension of oil loading at the Mina al Fahal terminal after an explosion, sources said, before normal operations resumed.

After the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28, Tehran fired missiles and drones against Gulf states hosting U.S. bases ​and largely stopped shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trade remains at a fraction of its former levels through the waterway, which previously carried about ​a fifth of global oil ⁠and liquefied natural gas supplies.

The conflict has driven up oil prices and disrupted supply chains for other products. The U.N. World Food Programme said on Friday that it was pushing millions of people closer to hunger due to rising fuel and transport costs, Reuters reported.

The U.S. and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect negotiations to secure an interim deal to halt the war that would leave issues including Iran’s nuclear programme to further negotiations.

As part of any agreement, Tehran ⁠wants access to ​billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, the lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ​ports and leverage over the strait.

Trump, who faces domestic pressure over an unpopular war, has said his top priority is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.

Iranian parliament deputy speaker Hamid-Reza Haji Babaei said on Friday that ​uranium enrichment was Iran’s right, and that Trump had failed to understand that Iran’s “most powerful atomic bomb” was the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. President ​Donald Trump on Thursday said ‌that Washington did not need a deal with Iran to ​get enriched uranium ​from the country, Reuters reported.

“We could get ⁠it right now. I ​don’t think they could ​stop us if we wanted, but there’s no reason to. ​It’s entombed,” he told ​reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump also ‌said ⁠that he did not want to meet with Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba ​Khamenei.

But ​he ⁠added that if Washington and Tehran ​reached a deal, it ​was ⁠possible that the two would meet and added: “If ⁠it ​happened … I’d be ​respectful”.