Islamabad — US envoys are expected to travel to Pakistan on Saturday in a new attempt to salvage ceasefire talks with Tehran, although Iran has ruled out direct negotiations with US representatives with the arrival of its top diplomat in Islamabad.
The latest efforts to broker a deal come as an indefinite ceasefire has stopped most of the fighting, but the economic fallout is still mounting as global energy shipments are disrupted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistan is trying to bring American and Iranian officials back to the negotiating table after Trump announced this week that the agreement was postponed indefinitely Extending the ceasefire with IranIn respect of Islamabad’s request for more time for diplomatic engagement.
The White House announced Friday that President Donald Trump will send Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. But shortly after Araqchi arrived in Islamabad, his ministry said that any talks would be indirect, as messages between the two sides would be conveyed through Pakistani officials.
Araghchi and Trump’s envoys held a meeting for hours Indirect talks in Geneva on February 27 regarding Tehran’s nuclear program, but he withdrew without reaching an agreement. The next day, Israel and the United States began war against Iran.
White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt told Fox News that the president decided to send Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan “to listen to the Iranians.”
“We’ve certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the last couple of days,” Levitt said. No details were provided about what US officials heard.
Separately, the White House said on Friday that Trump had issued a 90-day extension Jones Act WaiverThis makes it easier for non-American ships to transport oil and natural gas.
He first announced a 60-day waiver in March in a move aimed at stabilizing energy prices and facilitating oil and gas shipments to the United States after the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes in peacetime.
Iran has maintained its grip on traffic through the strait, attacking three ships earlier this week, while the US imposes a blockade on Iranian ports and Trump orders the military to close the strait. “Shooting and killing” on small boats Mine can be set.
price brent crude, The international benchmark fell after the news, oscillating between $103 a barrel and more than $107 — still nearly 50% higher than it was on February 28, when the war began.
The pressure on shipments through the Strait has extended to global maritime trade flows, including… Through the Panama Canal About halfway around the world.
Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, and more than 2,490 people have been killed in Lebanon, where new fighting broke out between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group two days after the war began, according to authorities.
In addition, 23 people died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. 15 Israeli soldiers were killed in Lebanon and 13 American soldiers were killed throughout the region.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon also suffered casualties. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Friday that an Indonesian peacekeeper died from wounds sustained in an attack on its base on March 29, bringing to six – four Indonesians and two Frenchmen – the number of force members killed since the outbreak of war.
The situation in Lebanon remained tense after Trump announced on Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the ceasefire Between Israel and Hezbollah In three weeks. Hezbollah did not participate in the diplomacy brokered by Washington.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video statement published by his office on Friday, praised “the process of achieving historic peace between Israel and Lebanon.”
Earlier, the Israeli army asked residents of the village of Deir Ams in southern Lebanon to evacuate the village, saying that Hezbollah was using the village to launch attacks against Israel.
The Israeli military said it shot down a drone over Lebanon after Hezbollah fired a small surface-to-air missile. On the other hand, the armed movement announced that it shot down an Israeli drone with a surface-to-air missile over the outskirts of the southern coastal city of Tyre.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Cohen from Bangkok. Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok; Said Choir in Abu Sinan, Israel; Basem Marwa in Beirut; Aamer Madani, Josh Bok and Ashraf Khalil in Washington contributed.