BEIRUT, Lebanon — In tense meetings on Friday, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed leaders of Lebanon to curb the growing power of Hezbollah, the political and military group supported by Iran that holds government posts and runs the health ministry.

“Lebanon and the Lebanese people face a choice: bravely move forward as an independent and proud nation or allow the dark ambitions of Iran and Hezbollah to dictate your future,” he said while standing next to the foreign minister, Gebran Bassil, after an afternoon meeting. Mr. Pompeo added that it would “take courage” for Lebanon to stand up to what he called Hezbollah’s “criminality, terror, and threats.”

Mr. Bassil, who is an ally of Hezbollah, countered Mr. Pompeo in his own post-meeting statement, saying: “For us, Hezbollah is a Lebanese party, not terrorists. Its members of parliament were elected by the Lebanese people, with high popular support.”

Mr. Pompeo’s meetings in Lebanon, which included sessions with President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, were bound to be awkward, since he had been announcing for days that his express purpose for going to Lebanon was to denounce Hezbollah and its allies in the government. It is rare for a country’s top diplomat to publicly declare that a visit is aimed at berating a government or a party within it.