President Donald Trump is sending a U.S. delegation to Pakistan to meet with Iran’s top diplomat for a new round of direct talks between the warring countries, the White House announced Friday.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will depart for Islamabad on Saturday and are expected to meet with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
Vice President JD Vance, who led the first U.S. delegation sent to Pakistan earlier this month, is on “standby” to join Witkoff and Kushner if they feel it’s a good use of his time, Leavitt said.
The announcement comes amid an intensifying standoff between the two countries, as the U.S. enforces a maritime blockade on Iranian ports and ships, and Iran resumes attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Both countries have seized ships in recent days and blamed each other for the escalations.
Zac Anderson
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not say whether the Iranians have submitted a formal proposal ahead of a new round of in-person peace talks.
Asked Friday if there is a formal offer from Tehran that is prompting the Trump administration to send top officials to Pakistan for talks, Leavitt said there has been “progress” but did not directly answer.
“We’ve certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the last couple of days,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
Zac Anderson
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is sending Middle East Envoy and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to Pakistan Saturday to engage in talks with Iranian officials over ending the war, resuming a peace process that had stalled in recent days.
“Steve and Jared will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow to hear the Iranians out,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House Friday. “We hope progress will be made and we hope positive developments will come from this meeting.”
Vice President JD Vance, who has been leading the talks for the United States, is on “standby” to go to Islamabad “if we feel it’s a necessary use of his time,” Leavitt said.
Bart Jansen
A 57-year-old Iranian man was indicted on charges he smuggled undocumented immigrants into the United States, the Justice Department announced April 24.
Jafar Tafakori was arrested in Colombia at the request of the United States. He allegedly charged as much as $30,000 per person to bring primarily Iranian nationals into the country from late 2022 to mid-2024, according to the indictment.
“Securing our borders and stopping alien smuggling is a top priority for the Department of Justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “This defendant allegedly transported many illegal aliens into the United States, exploiting our nation’s immigration laws and depriving our immigration officials the ability to vet and review the individuals entering our communities.”
Christopher Cann
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday said that the purpose of his trip to Pakistan, Oman and Russia is to “consult on regional developments.”
“Embarking on timely tour of Islamabad, Muscat, and Moscow. Purpose of my visits is to closely coordinate with our partners on bilateral matters and consult on regional developments,” he said on X. “Our neighbors are our priority.”
Christopher Cann
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 34 ship have followed U.S. orders to turn around since the blockade went into effect on April 13.
At a news conference on Friday, Caine described how the U.S. seized one Iranian-flagged vessel that ignored orders over the weekend, leading American forces to fire precision rounds at the engine room, disabling the ship. U.S. Marines then boarded the ship via helicopter.
“The ship and its crew remain safe in U.S. custody today,” Caine said, adding that the blockade is growing stronger as more military assets move into the Persian Gulf region.
Andrea Riquier
Brent crude oil traded above $105 a barrel Friday morning as a resolution to the Middle East war remained elusive.
Gas prices also remained elevated: a gallon of unleaded averaged $4.042 a gallon, GasBuddy’s real-time tracker showed. That’s down a few cents compared to yesterday, but more than 88 cents above last year’s average.
“Apparently, the US stock market can live with $100 oil for now,” wrote Ed Yardeni, a well-known economist and financial strategist, in a Thursday note. That’s in part because traders continue to assume the oil price will decline from here, he added.
Still, what’s good for Wall Street may not be good for Main Street. A reading of trading patterns on Friday morning shows investors think Brent crude will cost $85 a barrel by the fall – a big jump from levels it held before the war began.
Christopher Cann
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is traveling to Pakistan, Oman and Russia, Iranian state media reported.
Araghchi and a small delegation were expected to arrive in Islamabad on Friday where future peace talks with the U.S. may take place, Reuters and the Associated Press reported, citing Pakistani officials.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether the U.S. would send a delegation to meet with Araghchi.
A second round of negotiations were scheduled earlier this week. U.S. officials called off the trip as Iranian officials would not confirm whether they would participate, citing frustration with the U.S. naval blockade.
President Donald Trump then extended the ceasefire until the Iranian government comes up with a “unified proposal.”
Bart Jansen
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he has “lawyers all over the place” to authorize military action in the war on Iran, despite criticism from Pope Leo XIV and others that the fighting doesn’t comply with the doctrine for a “just” war.
“The Pope’s going to do his thing. That’s fine,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon. “We know what our mission is. We know what authority we have.”
Hegseth said lawyers review how the military is acting under Trump’s orders and the Constitution, and why.
“We’ve got lawyers all over the place looking at what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and giving us every authority necessary under the Constitution and our laws to execute it,” Hegseth added. “We feel very confident across the spectrum about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and the legal justification that we’re following in order to do it.”
Francesca Chambers
Hegseth took another slap at U.S. allies who’ve refused to help police the Strait of Hormuz, calling European and Asian nations free riders at a morning news conference.
“We’re not counting on Europe, but they need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do and might want to start doing less talking, and having less fancy conferences in Europe and get in a boat. This is much more their fight than ours,” Hegesth said, referring to the multinational planning conferences that have been led by the U.K and France on reopening the strait.
Bart Jansen
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the U.S. blockade of Iran is “ironclad” while Iran acts like “a gang of pirates” to seize ships from other countries.
“We are in control. Nothing in, nothing out,” Hegseth said of shipping with Iranian ports. “A blockade for as long as it takes.”
Iran seized two container ships earlier in the week. Hegseth said the seizures happened with small speedboats armed with AK-47s, and he criticized Iran’s military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“Iran’s battered military, the IRGC specifically, has been reduced to a gang of pirates with a flag,” Hegseth said. “They don’t control anything. They’re acting like pirates, acting like terrorists.”
Bart Jansen
A clear majority of 77% of registered voters in America blame Trump for surging gas prices ahead of the November midterm elections in Congress, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The criticism was shared across the political spectrum, with 55% of Republican voters, 82% of independents and 95% of Democrats blaming Trump, the poll found. More than half of voters – 58% – said they were less likely to support candidates in November who support Trump’s war with Iran.
“Right now, it’s bad. People are upset,” said Sarah Chamberlain, strategist and president of the Republican Main Street Partnership that advocates for conservative lawmakers. But she added the party has “a really good shot” if the situation with Iran is resolved and prices drop down by summer.
Trump has acknowledged the higher prices but argued the short-term costs are worth preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Bart Jansen
Only five ships, including one Iranian oil products tanker, traveled through the Strait of Hormuz in the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. on April 24, according to shipping data,
The shipping represents a sliver of the 140 daily ships before the war began Feb. 28. The near shutdown comes after Tehran seized two container ships and as the United States blockades Iranian ports.
“For most shipping companies, they will need a stable ceasefire and assurances from both sides of the conflict that the Strait of Hormuz is safe to transit,” said Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at shipping association BIMCO. “In the meantime, shipping will be restricted to using routes close to Iran and Oman.”
Bart Jansen
The military’s Central Command, which oversees the war in Iran, reinforced its show of strength in the Middle East with a social media post promoting the unusual arrangement of three aircraft carriers operating in the same region at the same time.
The command said it was the first time in decades that such large ships – the USS Abraham Lincoln, the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS George H.W. Bush – were sailing in the same region. The ships carry more than 200 aircraft and 15,000 sailors and marines.
The show of force comes during a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, while Trump waits for Tehran’s leaders to respond to peace proposals. Trump complained April 23 that officials in Iran can’t agree on a unified proposal because so many top leaders have been killed since the war began Feb. 28.
Bart Jansen
Trump said Israel would have to defend itself if Hezbollah attacks them, and that negotiations to end the war in Iran would require Tehran to stop funding the terror group.
“Israel is going to have to defend itself if they’re shot at – and they will,” Trump said. “I would never say that they can’t. It would be nice if they didn’t have to bother with that.
“They’re going to do it carefully and they’ll be surgical as opposed to beyond surgical,” Trump added.
Trump also said cutting off Iran’s funding for Hezbollah is a requirement for peace with Tehran.
Terry Collins
A third U.S. aircraft carrier has arrived in the broader Middle East for possible use in the ongoing naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The USS George H.W. Bush arrived in the Indian Ocean on April 23, according to the U.S. Central Command. The carrier now joins the USS Gerald R. Ford in the Red Sea and the USS Abraham Lincoln in the northern Arabian Sea.
The carrier’s arrival comes amid President Donald Trump’s extended ceasefire on the war after U.S.-Iranian peace talks in Pakistan broke down. Each country has blamed the other for the stalemate. Meanwhile, the carriers are available if Trump decides to resume attacks on Iran.
The president said in a Thursday Truth Social post that “a Deal will only be made when it’s appropriate and good for the United States of America, our Allies and, in fact, the rest of the World.”