Iran’s foreign minister awaits U.S. delegation to Pakistan for peace talks

The White House has confirmed that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are planning to travel to Pakistan Saturday for a new round of talks with Iran.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday arrived in Islamabad, where Pakistan hosted direct U.S.-Iran talks earlier this month. But his spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, denied that a direct meeting with the U.S. was planned.

“Iran’s observations would be conveyed to Pakistan,” he wrote on X.

The news of U.S. and Iranian officials traveling to Pakistan came the same day that Israel’s military said it attacked southern Lebanon, targeting sites belonging to the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and the militant group fired rockets into Israel.

That was despite President Trump’s announcement that Israel and Lebanon agreed during White House talks Thursday to extend the ceasefire by three weeks. Hezbollah was not involved in the negotiations and has opposed them.

The shaky Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is linked to broader U.S. efforts to draw its war with Iran to a close. Tehran has insisted that the fighting in Lebanon remain paused as a precondition for further peace talks with the United States.

Trump unilaterally extended the ceasefire with Iran this week, hours before it was set to expire, without indicating a new expiration date.

Iran has dismissed that extension as “meaningless,” saying the continued U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports is a violation of the deal and that the Iranian delegation will not return to the negotiating table until the blockade is lifted.

Here are the latest updates on Day 57 of the conflict in the Middle East:

Possible Iran talks | NATO rift | Mines in Hormuz | New sanctions | Pope Leo

Witkoff and Kushner travel to Pakistan for Iran talks

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaking on Fox News on Friday, said President Trump was dispatching Witkoff and Kushner to Islamabad “to go hear” what the Iranians have to say.

“We’re hopeful that it will be a productive conversation and hopefully move the ball forward towards a deal,” she said, adding that the Iranians asked for the talks.

Vice President Vance, who led the U.S. delegation last time, is not planning to travel this weekend, she said.

“The vice president remains deeply involved in this entire process, and he’ll be standing by here in the United States, along with the president and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the entire national security team for updates,” Leavitt said.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, arrived in Islamabad Friday. “Purpose of my visits is to closely coordinate with our partners on bilateral matters and consult on regional developments,” he said announcing the trip on social media. He noted he would also visit Oman and Russia.

Araghchi did not say if he would participate in talks with the U.S. A statement from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Araghchi was meeting senior Pakistani officials.

On Thursday, President Trump said he was in no hurry to reach a deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. “I don’t want to rush. I want to take my time,” Trump told reporters, adding that he was prepared to wait for “the best deal.”

Spain shrugs off reported Pentagon memo looking to penalize NATO allies for Iran war stance

On Friday, Spain’s prime minister pushed back against reported U.S. plans to penalize NATO allies who refused to support the U.S. in its war with Iran.

The Reuters news agency reported on Thursday about the existence of an internal Pentagon memo, prepared by top Pentagon official Elbridge Colby, outlining measures that the U.S. could take to retaliate against what it called “difficult” allies.

NPR has not independently reviewed the document. When asked about the reported memo, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson declined to comment on “internal deliberations,” but said the department is working to ensure the president has “credible options to ensure that our allies … do their part.”

While no NATO member volunteered to join combat operations, Spain has been the most defiantly opposed to the war, deeming it illegal and refusing to allow the U.S. to use bases on Spanish territory. 

Reuters reported that the confidential communication singled out the Spanish government, suggesting it could be suspended from NATO, and that Spain and others might be blocked from top positions inside the alliance.

At a European Union summit, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was asked about the Reuters report. “We don’t work on the basis of emails,” he responded, speaking in Spanish. “We are working on official documents and positions, made in this case by the United States government.”

Mines in the Strait of Hormuz

Trump said on social media Thursday he had ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill any boat” trying to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking at a Pentagon news conference on Friday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated the president’s threat, saying such vessels were “acting like pirates, acting like terrorists.”

“They’re the ones who lay indiscriminate mines,” he said.

Hegseth also derided Washington’s allies in Europe for not joining the U.S.-Israeli war. “We are not counting on Europe,” he told reporters. “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,” he added.

A Pentagon assessment shared in closed-door briefings with Congress indicates it could take up to six months to fully clear Iranian-laid mines from the Strait of Hormuz, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The threat of being attacked in the strait has had a tremendous effect on global shipping. Some vessels with links to Iran made attempts to move through the strait, but others are staying away after Iran attacked three ships with gunfire earlier this week and seized two.

Around 20,000 seafarers have also been stuck aboard their ships since the start of the war.

“There are a substantial number of tanker shipowners that [are keeping] their vessels away from the Middle East,” Basil Karatzas, who heads the maritime consulting company Karatzas Marine Advisors, told NPR.

The disruption goes beyond oil. Helium, fertilizer and aluminum, which are all critical elements for industry and farming, have been held up in the Gulf, causing global shortages and driving up costs.

U.S. sanctions China-based oil refinery and firms and tankers accused of shipping Iran’s oil

The U.S. Treasury Department said Friday it was imposing sanctions on an independent oil refinery in China, Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., Ltd., that it said was helping sustain Iran’s oil economy.

The Treasury also said its Office of Foreign Assets Control is targeting about 40 shipping firms and vessels that it said are part of a clandestine network of tankers, working on behalf of Tehran to bypass international sanctions.

“At President Trump’s direction, Treasury will continue to constrict the network of vessels, intermediaries, and buyers Iran relies on to move its oil to global markets. Any person or vessel facilitating these flows—through covert trade and finance—risks exposure to U.S. sanctions,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Separately, the Trump administration extended a waiver of the Jones Act, in an attempt to help with domestic supplies of gasoline and other refined oil products.

The initial 60-day waiver of the act was meant to help companies adapt to the global disruption in oil supplies caused by the Iran war. Experts say it does make it easier to ship fuels from U.S. refineries to U.S. customers, but the effect on gas prices for consumers is minimal.

Pope Leo urges U.S. and Iran to return to talks

Pope Leo XIV called on the United States and Iran to return to the negotiating table Friday, calling for renewed talks to end the war.

Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane after a trip to Africa, Leo urged leaders to adopt what he called “a culture of peace.”

He called the negotiations between Iran and the United States “complex,” but urged all sides to remain committed to dialogue.

He said he was carrying a photograph of a young Muslim Lebanese boy killed in Israel’s recent attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The same child had been photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope during his visit to Lebanon last year.

“When conflicts arise,” Leo said, “the question is how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents.”