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On Saturday, Iran resumed commercial flights from Tehran\u2019s international airport for the first time since the conflict with the U.S. and Israel began about two months ago. Iran\u2019s state-run television reported that flights were scheduled to depart for Istanbul, Oman\u2019s capital of Muscat and the Saudi city of Medina. Iran partly reopened its airspace earlier this month amid a ceasefire with the U.S. which halted fighting between the two countries.<\/p>\n The airport opening comes as Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met twice with Pakistan’s top military and political leaders since arriving in Islamabad on Friday night, officials said.<\/p>\n According to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, the Iranian delegation will hold talks with Pakistan\u2019s senior leadership as the U.S. envoys were expected to travel to Islamabad on Saturday. Officials have not specified when Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due to arrive.<\/p>\n
Pakistan\u2019s capital of Islamabad was in a near-lockdown early Saturday ahead of the talks, where the weeklong security restrictions have disrupted daily life across the capital. Residents struggle to commute even short distances as checkpoints, road closures, and diversions have become a routine sight, particularly around sensitive zones.<\/p>\n The usually busy arteries leading to the airport and the heavily fortified Red Zone were largely deserted early Saturday, with movement tightly restricted. Security forces, including troops, paramilitary commandos, and police, maintained a strong presence at key intersections, especially near the airport, while helicopters circled overhead throughout the morning.<\/p>\n Pakistan has been trying to get U.S. and Iranian officials back to the table after Trump this week announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire with Iran<\/a>, honoring Islamabad\u2019s request for more time for diplomatic outreach.<\/p>\n The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump would send Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to meet with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. But shortly after Araghchi arrived in Islamabad, his ministry said any talks would be indirect, with messages conveyed between the two sides by Pakistani officials.<\/p>\n Araghchi and the two Trump envoys held hours of\u00a0indirect talks in Geneva on Feb. 27<\/a> over Tehran\u2019s nuclear program, but walked away without a deal. The next day, Israel and the United States started the war against Iran.<\/p>\n White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that the president had decided to send Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan \u201cto hear the Iranians out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the last couple of days,\u201d Leavitt said. She did not offer any details about what U.S. officials were hearing.<\/p>\n
Separately Friday, the White House said Trump issued a 90-day extension to\u00a0the Jones Act waiver<\/a>, making it easier for non-American vessels to transport oil and natural gas.<\/p>\n He 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, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes in peacetime.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0\u201cshoot and kill\u201d small boats<\/a> that could be placing mines.<\/p>\n The price of\u00a0Brent crude oil,<\/a> the international standard, retreated on the news, vacillating between $103 a barrel and more than $107 \u2014 still nearly 50% higher than where it was on Feb. 28, when the war began.<\/p>\n
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\n Iran says they don’t plan to attend peace talks in Pakistan, as U.S. seizes Iranian vessel
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\n Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz escalate as ceasefire expiration date looms
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\nPakistan works to get US and Iran back to the negotiating table <\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777119316_745_a03b236a-36c1-4399-9032-e77392221fe6_1140x641.jpg\")
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\nTrump extends the Jones Act waiver for 90 days <\/p>\n