Iran’s top diplomat was heading Friday to Pakistan, where officials have been attempting to get the US and Iran to convene for a second round of ceasefire negotiations.
The trip comes as much of the world is on edge over a war that has snarled crucial energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz, clouded the worldwide economic picture and left 1000’s dead across the Middle East.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that he was on his approach to Pakistan, Oman and Russia on a visit focused on “bilateral matters and regional developments.”
The White House didn’t immediately reply to questions on Araghchi’s trip and whether a U.S. delegation would also travel to Pakistan.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking around the identical time the news emerged, told a briefing that Iran had a likelihood to make a “good deal” with the US.
Islamabad has sought to reinject momentum into the negotiations between Iran and the US, which didn’t resume this week as had been expected.
Trump extends the Jones Act waiver for 90 days
Individually Friday, the White House said President Donald Trump issued a 90-day extension to the Jones Act waiver, making it easier for non-American vessels to move oil and natural gas.
Trump 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.
“Latest data compiled because the initial waiver was issued revealed that significantly more supply was capable of reach U.S. ports faster,” the White House post on social media said.
The worth of Brent crude oil, the international standard, retreated on the news, vacillating between $103 a barrel and greater than $107 — still early 50% higher than where it was on Feb. 28, when the Iran war began.
Get day by day National news
Get day by day Canada news delivered to your inbox so you will never miss the day’s top stories.
The squeeze on shipments through the strait has rippled through global maritime trade flows, including through the Panama Canal nearly halfway around the globe.
Pakistan forges ahead with diplomatic efforts
Pakistan has been attempting to get U.S. 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 diplomatic outreach.
That hasn’t lowered tensions within 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 may very well be placing mines.
“Iran has a very important selection, a likelihood to make a deal, a superb deal, a smart deal,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Friday. He said a second U.S. aircraft carrier will join the blockade in a couple of days.
Hegseth added the U.S. was “not anxious” for a take care of Iran, and repeated Trump’s previous comments of getting “on a regular basis on the planet.”
“Iran knows that they still have an open window to decide on properly … on the negotiating table. All they should do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways,” he said.
Washington already has three aircraft carriers within the region; the usGeorge H.W. Bush within the Indian Ocean; the usAbraham Lincoln within the Arabian Sea; and the usGerald R. Ford within the Red Sea.
It’s the primary time since 2003 that three American carriers have been operating within the region concurrently. The force includes 200 aircraft and 15,000 sailors and Marines, U.S. Central Command said.
A growing toll at the same time as ceasefires hold
For the reason that war began, a minimum of 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, and greater than 2,490 people in Lebanon, where latest fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah broke out two days after the war began, in line with authorities.
Moreover, 23 people have died in Israel and greater 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 U.N. 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 6 — 4 Indonesians and two French — the variety of force members killed because the war erupted.
Tensions linger in Lebanon despite prolonged truce
The situation in Lebanon remained tense a day after Trump announced Israel and Lebanon had agreed to increase a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated within the diplomacy brokered by Washington.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video statement released by his office on Friday, hailed “a process to attain a historic peace between Israel and Lebanon.”
Earlier, the Israeli army asked residents of the southern Lebanese village of Deir Aames to evacuate, saying Hezbollah was using the village to launch attacks against Israel.
Israel’s military said it downed a drone over Lebanon following the launch of a small surface-to-air missile by Hezbollah. The militant group, meanwhile, said it shot down an Israeli drone with a surface-to-air missile over the outskirts of the southern port city of Tyre.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Keaten from Geneva. Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok; Koral Saeed in Abu Snan, Israel; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; and Aamer Madhani and Josh Boak in Washington contributed.
© 2026 The Canadian Press