'Have mercy on our south': Salam tells Iran to stop treating Lebanon as 'bargaining chip'

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Friday urged Iran to stop treating his country, where Israel and the Tehran-backed Hezbollah are at war, as a "bargaining chip" in its negotiations with Washington on the Middle East conflict.

"If I may address a word to Iran, it is this: have mercy on our south, stop treating it and its people as merely a bargaining chip to improve the terms of your negotiations," Salam told a press conference for a U.N. aid appeal for Lebanon.

"The Lebanese people were surprised to find that Iran was the very first party to reject the ceasefire; this confirms that this war is not ours and it is not being fought for our sake — but rather on our land and at the expense of our people," Salam said.