U.S. President Donald Trump is sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan on Saturday to continue talks with Iran, the White House said Friday. The pair will meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was heading to Pakistan Friday for “bilateral consultations,” Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency confirmed. Vice President JD Vance would not be traveling, the White House said.
The trip to Pakistan comes as officials there have been trying to get the United States and Iran to a second round of ceasefire negotiations.
Also, U.S. President Donald Trump says Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House on Thursday. The meeting was the second high-level negotiation between the two countries since last week. The initial 10-day ceasefire, which took effect last Friday, had been due to expire Monday.
US imposes sanctions on a China-based oil refinery and 40 shippers over Iranian oil
The Trump administration is placing economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil.
The move, announced Friday and first reported by The Associated Press, makes good on the Trump administration’s threat to impose secondary sanctions on companies and countries that do business with Iran. It’s also part of the Republican administration’s overall ramped-up campaign to cut off Iran’s key source of revenue — its oil exports.
Concurrently, the U.S. this month imposed a physical blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway that is crucial to global energy supplies.
These sanctions come just a few weeks before President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping are due to meet in China.
Israeli strikes kill at least 11 in Gaza, health officials say
Among those killed in three separate Israeli strikes on Friday across Gaza were a woman and a child, health officials said.
Source: WPLG
