Hezbollah's chief pledged to prevent the extraction of oil and gas from maritime fields bordering Israeli fields if Lebanon was not allowed to do the same.

"If you want to get to a formula where this country is barred from taking advantage (of these fields), then no one will be allowed to extract gas or oil and no one will be able to sell gas or oil," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in an apparent reference to Israel.

Longtime foes Lebanon and Israel started indirect negotiations through U.S. mediation in 2020 at a United Nations peacekeeping base in Lebanon's Naqoura, but the talks have stalled several times.

The maritime border dispute has held up exploration in the potentially gas-rich area.