An Iranian girl walks previous symbolic belongings laid on the bottom at Valiasr Sq. in Tehran on April 24, 2026, in tribute to the schoolgirls in Minab killed in an airstrike.
AFP through Getty Photos
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AFP through Getty Photos
The White Home has confirmed that U.S. particular envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are planning to journey to Pakistan Saturday for a brand new spherical of talks with Iran.
Iran’s international minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday arrived in Islamabad, the place Pakistan hosted direct U.S.-Iran talks earlier this month. However his spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, denied {that a} direct assembly with the U.S. was deliberate.
This handout picture launched by the Iranian international ministry exhibits Pakistan’s Overseas Minister Ishaq Dar (L) greeting his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi upon his arrival in Islamabad on April 24, 2026.
Iranian Overseas Ministry/AFP
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Iranian Overseas Ministry/AFP
“Iran’s observations can be conveyed to Pakistan,” he wrote on X.
The information of U.S. and Iranian officers touring to Pakistan got here the identical day that Israel’s army stated it attacked southern Lebanon, focusing on websites belonging to the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and the militant group fired rockets into Israel.
That was regardless of President Trump’s announcement that Israel and Lebanon agreed throughout White Home talks Thursday to increase the ceasefire by three weeks. Hezbollah was not concerned within the negotiations and has opposed them.
The shaky Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is linked to broader U.S. efforts to attract its warfare with Iran to an in depth. Tehran has insisted that the preventing in Lebanon stay paused as a precondition for additional peace talks with the USA.
Trump unilaterally prolonged the ceasefire with Iran this week, hours earlier than it was set to run out, with out indicating a brand 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 is not going to return to the negotiating desk till the blockade is lifted.
Safety personnel stand guard at a closed street resulting in the Serena Resort within the Purple Zone space of Islamabad on April 23, 2026.
Asif Hassan/AFP through Getty Photos
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Asif Hassan/AFP through Getty Photos
Listed here are the most recent updates on Day 57 of the battle within the Center East:
Doable Iran talks | NATO rift | Mines in Hormuz | New sanctions | Pope Leo
Witkoff and Kushner journey to Pakistan for Iran talks
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt, talking on Fox Information on Friday, stated President Trump was dispatching Witkoff and Kushner to Islamabad “to go hear” what the Iranians need to say.
“We’re hopeful that it will likely be a productive dialog and hopefully transfer the ball ahead in the direction of a deal,” she stated, including that the Iranians requested for the talks.
Vice President Vance, who led the U.S. delegation final time, just isn’t planning to journey this weekend, she stated.
“The vice chairman stays deeply concerned on this total course of, and he’ll be standing by right here in the USA, together with the president and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the complete nationwide safety staff for updates,” Leavitt stated.
White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to the press on the White Home in Washington, DC, on April 24, 2026. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will head to Pakistan on April 25 for a brand new spherical of talks with Iran on ending the warfare, Leavitt instructed Fox Information.
Alex Wroblewski/AFP through Getty Photos
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Alex Wroblewski/AFP through Getty Photos
Iran’s international minister, Abbas Araghchi, arrived in Islamabad Friday. “Goal of my visits is to intently coordinate with our companions on bilateral issues and seek the advice of on regional developments,” he stated saying the journey on social media. He famous he would additionally go to Oman and Russia.
Araghchi didn’t say if he would take part in talks with the U.S. A assertion from Pakistan’s Overseas Ministry stated Araghchi was assembly senior Pakistani officers.
On Thursday, President Trump stated he was in no hurry to succeed in a deal to finish the U.S.-Israeli warfare with Iran. “I do not wish to rush. I wish to take my time,” Trump instructed reporters, including that he was ready to attend for “the very best deal.”
Spain shrugs off reported Pentagon memo trying to penalize NATO allies for Iran warfare stance
On Friday, Spain’s prime minister pushed again in opposition to reported U.S. plans to penalize NATO allies who refused to assist the U.S. in its warfare with Iran.
The Reuters information company reported on Thursday in regards to the existence of an inside Pentagon memo, ready by high Pentagon official Elbridge Colby, outlining measures that the U.S. may take to retaliate in opposition to what it known as “troublesome” allies.
NPR has not independently reviewed the doc. When requested in regards to the reported memo, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson declined to touch upon “inside deliberations,” however stated the division is working to make sure the president has “credible choices to make sure that our allies … do their half.”
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks to journalists as he arrives for an off-the-cuff assembly of the European Council in Nicosia on April 24, 2026.
Nicolas Tucat/AFP through Getty Photos
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Nicolas Tucat/AFP through Getty Photos
Whereas no NATO member volunteered to affix fight operations, Spain has been probably the most defiantly against the warfare, deeming it unlawful and refusing to permit the U.S. to make use of bases on Spanish territory.Â
Reuters reported that the confidential communication singled out the Spanish authorities, suggesting it may very well be suspended from NATO, and that Spain and others is perhaps blocked from high positions contained in the alliance.
At a European Union summit, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was requested in regards to the Reuters report. “We do not work on the idea of emails,” he responded, talking in Spanish. “We’re engaged on official paperwork and positions, made on this case by the USA authorities.”
Mines within the Strait of Hormuz
Trump stated on social media Thursday he had ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill any boat” attempting to put mines within the Strait of Hormuz.
Talking at a Pentagon information convention on Friday morning, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated the president’s menace, saying such vessels have been “appearing like pirates, appearing like terrorists.”
“They’re those who lay indiscriminate mines,” he stated.
Hegseth additionally derided Washington’s allies in Europe for not becoming a member of the U.S.-Israeli warfare. “We aren’t relying on Europe,” he instructed reporters. “However they want the Strait of Hormuz far more than we do and may wish to begin doing much less speaking and having much less fancy conferences in Europe and get in a ship.”
“That is far more their struggle than ours,” he added.
A Pentagon evaluation shared in closed-door briefings with Congress signifies it may take as much as six months to completely clear Iranian-laid mines from the Strait of Hormuz, based on a U.S. official who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly.
Folks sit on the seashore with ships within the distance on April 24, 2026 in Kish Island, Iran.
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The specter of being attacked within the strait has had an amazing impact on international delivery. Some vessels with hyperlinks to Iran made makes an attempt to maneuver by way of the strait, however others are staying away after Iran attacked three ships with gunfire earlier this week and seized two.
Round 20,000 seafarers have additionally been caught aboard their ships because the begin of the warfare.
“There are a considerable variety of tanker shipowners that [are keeping] their vessels away from the Center East,” Basil Karatzas, who heads the maritime consulting firm Karatzas Marine Advisors, instructed NPR.
The disruption goes past oil. Helium, fertilizer and aluminum, that are all vital parts for business and farming, have been held up within the Gulf, inflicting international shortages and driving up prices.
U.S. sanctions China-based oil refinery and corporations and tankers accused of delivery Iran’s oil
The U.S. Treasury Division stated Friday it was imposing sanctions on an unbiased oil refinery in China, Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., Ltd., that it stated was serving to maintain Iran’s oil financial system.
The Treasury additionally stated its Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management is focusing on about 40 delivery corporations and vessels that it stated are a part of a clandestine community of tankers, engaged on behalf of Tehran to bypass worldwide sanctions.
“At President Trump’s route, Treasury will proceed to constrict the community of vessels, intermediaries, and patrons Iran depends on to maneuver its oil to international markets. Any particular person or vessel facilitating these flows—by way of covert commerce and finance—dangers publicity to U.S. sanctions,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in a assertion.
Individually, the Trump administration prolonged a waiver of the Jones Act, in an try to assist with home provides of gasoline and different refined oil merchandise.
The preliminary 60-day waiver of the act was meant to assist firms adapt to the worldwide disruption in oil provides attributable to the Iran warfare. Specialists say it does make it simpler to ship fuels from U.S. refineries to U.S. clients, however the impact on fuel costs for customers is minimal.
Pope Leo urges U.S. and Iran to return to talks
Pope Leo XIV known as on the USA and Iran to return to the negotiating desk Friday, calling for renewed talks to finish the warfare.
Chatting with reporters aboard the papal aircraft after a visit to Africa, Leo urged leaders to undertake what he known as “a tradition of peace.”
Pope Leo XIV speaks to journalists aboard the papal flight from Malabo to Rome, on Thursday, on the finish of his 11-day pastoral go to to Africa.
Andrew Medichini/AFP through Getty Photos
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Andrew Medichini/AFP through Getty Photos
He known as the negotiations between Iran and the USA “advanced,” however urged all sides to stay dedicated to dialogue.
He stated he was carrying {a photograph} of a younger Muslim Lebanese boy killed in Israel’s current assaults in opposition to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The identical little one had been photographed holding an indication welcoming the pope throughout his go to to Lebanon final 12 months.
“When conflicts come up,” Leo stated, “the query is how you can promote the values we imagine in with out the deaths of so many innocents.”
Resident Mohamad Ali Hijazi holds his broken household picture album amid the rubble of destroyed buildings at a residential space in Tyre on April 23, 2026.
AFP through Getty Photos
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AFP through Getty Photos
