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US President Donald Trump is sending his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan to meet with Iran's foreign minister, the White House said on Friday, as officials in the South Asian country push to renew ceasefire talks between the US and Iran.
The talks scheduled for Saturday come as much of the world is on edge over a war that has engulfed vital energy exports outside the Strait of Hormuz, clouded the global economic picture and left thousands dead in the Middle East.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Pakistan late Friday. Earlier on social media, he wrote that he was going to Pakistan on a trip focused on “bilateral issues and regional development.” He did not specify who he would meet.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News Channel that Witkoff and Kushner will meet with Araghchi.
“We hope that it will be a successful discussion and we hope that we will move the ball forward in the agreement,” he said.
As the situation escalates in the Strait of Hormuz, the US military says it has seized an Iranian-sanctioned oil tanker. US President Donald Trump has also ordered the navy to 'shoot and kill' small boats that he says are mines in the river.
Leavitt said that US Vice President JD Vance will not go but remains “very involved” and would agree to go to Pakistan “if we feel it is necessary to use his time.”
Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the president's security team are “ready” to fly to Pakistan if needed, he said.
Araghchi and two US envoys held hours of informal talks in Geneva on February 27 on Tehran's nuclear program, but left without an agreement. The next day, Israel and the US started a war against Iran.
Leavitt said Trump decided to send Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan “to hear from the Iranian people.”
“We have seen some progress on the Iranian side over the past few days,” he said, without giving details on what US officials are hearing.
Islamabad sought to reinvigorate the talks between Iran and the US, which did not start this week as expected.
Trump extends Jones Act waiver for 90 days
Separately on Friday, the White House said Trump issued a 90-day extension to the Jones Act waiver, which makes it easier for non-US ships to transport oil and natural gas.
He first announced the 60-day waiver in March in a move aimed at stabilizing energy prices and easing oil and gas exports to the US following the successful closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“New information collected since the initial indictment was issued revealed that many supplies were able to reach American ports quickly,” the White House said in a statement on social media.
US President Donald Trump told reporters 'don't rush me,' when asked about the Iran timeline.
The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, has bounced back on the news, hovering between $103 US a barrel and above $107 US – still about 50 percent higher than where it was in Feb. 28, when the war began.
Congested shipping at the port has fueled maritime trade around the world, including the Panama Canal almost halfway around the world.
Pakistan is moving forward with communication efforts
Pakistan has been trying to get US and Iranian officials back to the table after Trump this week announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire with Iran, honoring Islamabad's request for more time for negotiations.
That has not eased tensions over the crisis, a vital waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas is shipped in peacetime.
Iran has been wreaking havoc in the traffic, attacking three ships earlier this week, while the US remains under blockade of Iranian ports and Trump has ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that might lay mines.
“Iran has an important decision, an opportunity to make a deal, a good deal, a smart deal,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Friday. He said the owner of a second US airliner would join the blockade in a few days.
Washington already has three aircraft carriers in the region: USS George HW Bush in the Indian Ocean; USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea; and the USS Gerald R. Ford in the Red Sea.
It is the first time since 2003 that three American carriers have operated in the region at the same time. The force includes 200 aircraft and 15,000 sailors and marines, US Central Command said.
Since the start of the war, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and more than 2,490 people in Lebanon, where a new war between Israel and the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah broke out two days into the war, according to authorities. Additionally, 23 people died in Israel and more than a dozen in the Gulf Arab states.
Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 US personnel in the entire region were killed.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon also continued to suffer casualties. UNIFIL said on Friday that an Indonesian peacekeeper died of wounds during an attack on his base on March 29, bringing to six – four Indonesians and two French – the number of soldiers killed since the war began.
