US-Iran war live updates: Trump to send US delegation to Pakistan for Iran peace talks; Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended for three weeks

Thank you for joining our continuing live coverage of the war in the Middle East.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, will travel to Pakistan for talks on Iran this weekend, the White House says, amid conflicting reports over whether a direct meeting between the two sides will take place.
• The New York Times reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet Witkoff and Kushner in Islamabad, citing unnamed Iranian officials, and present a written response to a US peace proposal.
• However, posting on X, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “no meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the US” and Iran’s observations will instead be “conveyed to Pakistan”.
• White House press spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would not attend the talks, but were on “standby”.
• Leavitt said Washington had “certainly seen progress” from the “Iranian side” in recent days.
• In Lebanon, Hezbollah said the US-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless a day after it was extended for three weeks, as Lebanese authorities reported two people killed by an Israeli strike, and Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US does not plan to renew a waiver allowing the purchase of Russian oil and petroleum products that are currently at sea. And, he said, a renewal of the one-time waiver for Iranian oil at sea is totally off the table.

“Not the Iranians,” Bessent said. “We have the blockade, and there’s no oil coming out.”

“And we think in the next two, three days, they’re going to have to start shuttering production, which will be very bad for their wells.”

Global energy markets have been severely disrupted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of oil and liquefied natural gas supplies flowed before the war.

In a separate move, the Trump administration said it would place economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil.

The move, announced on Friday and first reported by the Associated Press, makes good on Washington’s threat to impose secondary sanctions on companies and countries doing business with Iran. The latest sanctions come just a few weeks before Trump is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

AP

A peace deal with Iran could end up looking remarkably like the one agreed by former president Barack Obama and torn up by President Donald Trump during his first term in office, the Washington Post reported this week.

It could mean Iran getting back billions of dollars in frozen assets and agreements on limits to the country’s nuclear program eventually expiring, bolstering the position of Tehran’s hardliners, who cracked down on nationwide protests at the start of this year.

The Post writes that Trump, who spent years fiercely attacking the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran, has authorised US negotiators to consider an agreement involving many of the same trade-offs.

Read more here: Trump’s Iran deal may need him to do the unthinkable

Israel and the US launched a massive bombing campaign against Iran on February 28, prompting Iran to retaliate with missile and drone strikes on Israel and American bases in the Middle East.

Iran’s leadership was decimated in the opening days of the war, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed alongside many other senior officials in an Israeli strike on his Tehran compound.

As the conflict intensified, Iran effectively shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the entrance to the Persian Gulf through which one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies flow.

Despite President Donald Trump declaring victory several times, the two sides are now at a costly impasse, with Iran’s oil exports blocked and US petrol prices at multi-year highs. Energy supply concerns have triggered emergency measures in countries that rely on oil exported through the Gulf amid warnings of a major global supply shock.

In a social media post, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson says no meeting is planned between Iran and the US in Islamabad and that Iran’s observations [on the negotiations] would be conveyed to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the Iranian delegation led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday and was met by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and other senior officials.

Reuters, AP

Reports on Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi’s trip to Islamabad in Iranian state media and Pakistani sources made no mention of Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, the powerful Speaker of Iran’s parliament, who led its delegation at the talks earlier this month.

The Iranian parliament’s media office denied a report that Ghalibaf had resigned as head of the country’s negotiating team and added that no new round of talks was scheduled yet.

Aragchi wrote on X that he was visiting Pakistan, Oman and Russia to co-ordinate with partners on bilateral matters, adding that Iran’s neighbours remained Tehran’s priority.

The tour will include consultations on the latest efforts to end the war, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson later told state media.

Two Pakistani government sources aware of the discussions said Aragchi’s visit would be brief and focus on Iran’s proposals for talks with the US, which mediator Pakistan would then convey to Washington. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a briefing earlier on Friday that Iran had a chance to make a “good deal” with the United States.

Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has received successful treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, without specifying when the treatment took place.

In a statement on social media, as his annual medical report was released, Netanyahu, 76, said an early-stage malignant tumour had been discovered during a routine check-up. He said, “targeted treatment” had removed “the problem” and left no trace of it.

According to the medical report, which otherwise said the prime minister was in good health, Netanyahu was treated with radiation therapy for early-stage prostate cancer. The medical report did not say when the treatment occurred.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said he had delayed the release of the medical report by two months to prevent Iran from spreading “false propaganda against Israel”. In March, rumours circulated on social media and aired on Iranian state media claiming that Netanyahu had died. The Israeli leader recorded a video of himself visiting a Jerusalem cafe to refute the claims.

Reuters

Ahead of the announcement that talks would resume in Pakistan, President Donald Trump told Reuters that Iran planned to make an offer aimed at satisfying American demands.

“They’re making an offer, and we’ll have to see,” Trump said during a phone interview on Friday (US time).

Trump said he did not yet know what the offer would be. He has been adamant that any deal include Iran giving up its enriched uranium and allowing freedom of oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The president on Thursday expressed concern about who was leading Iran, and US officials have said they believe the leadership is fractured.

On Friday, when asked who Washington was negotiating with, Trump said: “I don’t want to say that, but we’re dealing with the people that are in charge now.”

Reuters

Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will travel to Islamabad on Saturday (US time) for further talks with Iran.

They are expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is heading to Islamabad as part of a broader trip, but this is not yet confirmed.

Speaking to reporters on Friday afternoon, Washington time, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the pair “will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow to hear the Iranians out”.

Vice President JD Vance will not be part of the initial delegation but is on standby to attend “if we feel it is necessary”, Leavitt said.

“The Iranians want to talk. They want to talk in person. And so the president, as I’ve said many, many times to all of you, is always willing to give diplomacy a chance.”

The country’s powerful parliamentary Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, is not expected to be in Islamabad – though he could attend at short notice.

Thank you for joining our continuing live coverage of the war in the Middle East.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, will travel to Pakistan for talks on Iran this weekend, the White House says, amid conflicting reports over whether a direct meeting between the two sides will take place.
• The New York Times reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet Witkoff and Kushner in Islamabad, citing unnamed Iranian officials, and present a written response to a US peace proposal.
• However, posting on X, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “no meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the US” and Iran’s observations will instead be “conveyed to Pakistan”.
• White House press spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would not attend the talks, but were on “standby”.
• Leavitt said Washington had “certainly seen progress” from the “Iranian side” in recent days.
• In Lebanon, Hezbollah said the US-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless a day after it was extended for three weeks, as Lebanese authorities reported two people killed by an Israeli strike, and Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone.