Trump says US Navy attacked and seized Iranian-flagged cargo ship

Vice President JD Vance was heckled twice during a Turning Point USA college event in Athens, Georgia, on Tuesday, by people criticizing either the war in Iran or American support for Israel's ongoing war in Gaza.

One voice could be heard calling out, "Jesus Christ does not support genocide!" Another voice shouted, "You're killing children! You're bombing children!"

Vance addressed the event amid rising tensions between the White House and the Vatican, which in recent days has prompted President Donald Trump to repeatedly admonish Pope Leo XIV for the latter's anti-war statements.

Vance -- who converted to Catholicism in 2019 -- cited theology in his defense of U.S. conduct. "When the pope says that god is never on the side of those who wield the sword, there is a thousand -- more than a thousand-year tradition of just war theory."

"I think that it's important -- in the same way that it's important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy -- I think it's very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology."

"If you're going to opine on matters of theology, you've got to be careful, you've got to be sure it's anchored in the truth and that's one of the things that I try to do and that's certainly something I would expect from the clergy," Vance said.

-ABC News' Claire Brinberg and Hannah Demissie

The Israel Defense Forces issued an "urgent" warning for residents of southern Lebanon, south of the Zahrani River, calling on them to move north and saying airstrikes were ongoing with "significant force" in the area.

"Hezbollah's terrorist activities are forcing the Israel Defense Forces to act against it forcefully in that area, and it has no intention of harming you," Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arab-language spokesperson, said on social media on Wednesday.

The IDF called on residents south of the Zahrani to move "immediately" north, saying that remaining in place "may endanger your lives and the lives of your families."

The IDF in recent weeks has issued similar warnings for much of southern Lebanon, where it's attacking the Hezbollah militia, an Iranian proxy.

President Donald Trump again leveled criticism at Pope Leo and the NATO alliance over the war with Iran in late-night posts on social media Tuesday.

In the first post, Trump said that the Catholic leader -- who has repeatedly called for peace in the conflict -- needed to be informed that Iran had killed tens of thousands of protesters, and that it was "absolutely unacceptable" for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

Trump followed up minutes later with another post directed at NATO allies, again claiming that the alliance "wasn't there for us, and they won't be there for us in the future" -- a sentiment the president has repeatedly conveyed in recent weeks.

-ABC News' Nicholas Kerr

The blockade of Iranian ports "has been fully implemented," the commander of U.S. Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper said in a social media post late Tuesday.

"In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea," the post stated.

Cooper said an estimated 90% of Iran's economy is fueled by international trade by sea.

The U.S. military began the blockade of Iranian ports on Monday after President Donald Trump announced the move over the weekend, following the failure of peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.