Trump dispatches U.S. envoys to Pakistan for new talks with Iran's foreign minister

iranian language strange Affairs government minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in islamic republic of pakistan tardily Friday, according to Iranian state media, where he is expected to hold talks with U.S. Officials on reviving ceasefire negotiations.

Pakistan has been seeking to jumpstart efforts to revive negotiations between the United States and Iran over the war that erupted after the U.S. And Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.

Araghchi wrote earlier on social media that he was travelling to Pakistan on a trip focused on "bilateral matters and regional developments." He didn't specify with whom.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said U.S. Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were travelling to Pakistan for talks with Araghchi.

"We're hopeful that it will be a productive conversation and hopefully move the ball forward to a deal," she said.

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The talks planned for Saturday come as much of the world is on edge over a war that has snarled crucial energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz, clouded the global economic picture and left thousands dead across the Middle East.

Leavitt said U.S. Vice-President JD Vance would not travel but that he remains "deeply involved" and would be willing to go to Pakistan "if we feel it's a necessary use of his time."

Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the president's national security team are on "standby" to fly to Pakistan if needed, she said.

Earlier Friday, Araghchi wrote on social media platform X that he was on his way to Pakistan, Oman and Russia, on a trip focused on "bilateral matters and regional developments."

Araghchi and the two U.S. Envoys held hours of indirect talks in Geneva on Feb. 27 over Tehran's nuclear program, but they walked away without a deal. The next day, Israel and the U.S. Started the war against Iran.

Leavitt said U.S. President Donald Trump decided to send Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan "to hear the Iranians out."

"We've certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the last couple of days," she said, without offering any details about what U.S. Officials were hearing.

Islamabad has sought to reinject momentum into the negotiations between Iran and the U.S., but they did not resume this week as had been expected.

Separately on Friday, the White House said Trump issued a 90-day extension to the Jones Act waiver, making it easier for non-American vessels to transport oil and natural gas.

He first announced a 60-day waiver in March in a move intended to stabilize energy prices and ease oil and gas shipments to the U.S. Following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz."

New data compiled since the initial waiver was issued revealed that significantly more supply was able to reach U.S. Ports faster," the White House post on social media said.

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The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, retreated on the news, vacillating between $103 US a barrel and more than $107 US — still nearly 50 per cent higher than where it was when the war began.

The squeeze on shipments through the strait has rippled through global maritime trade flows, including through the Panama Canal nearly halfway around the world.

Pakistan has been trying to get U.S. And Iranian officials back to the table after Trump this week announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire with Iran, honouring Islamabad's request for more time for diplomatic outreach.

That hasn't lowered tensions in the strait, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas is shipped during peacetime.

Iran has kept its stranglehold on traffic through the strait, attacking three ships earlier this week, while the U.S. Is maintaining a blockade on Iranian ports and Trump has ordered the military to "shoot and kill" small boats that could be placing mines.

"Iran has an important choice, a chance to make a deal, a good deal, a wise deal," U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters on Friday. He said a second U.S. Aircraft carrier will join the blockade in a few days.

Washington already has three aircraft carriers in the region: USS George H.W. Bush in the Indian Ocean; USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea; and USS Gerald R. Ford in the Red Sea.

It is the first time since 2003 that three American carriers have been operating in the region simultaneously. The force includes 200 aircraft and 15,000 sailors and marines, U.S. Central Command said.

Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and more than 2,490 people in Lebanon, where new fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah broke out two days after the war started, according to authorities. Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. Service members throughout the region have been killed.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has also sustained casualties. UNIFIL said Friday that an Indonesian peacekeeper died of wounds sustained in an attack on his base on March 29, raising to six — four Indonesians and two French — the number of force members killed since the war erupted.

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