U.S. could send senior officials back to Pakistan for Iran talks within days, sources say

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Washington — Amid a tightening American naval blockade of Iran's ports and coastline successful the constrictive maritime chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, the Trump medication is weighing a renewed diplomatic push that could nonstop elder officials backmost to Pakistan wrong days, according to respective radical acquainted with the deliberations.

While inactive tentative, the effort is aimed astatine reviving negotiations with Iranian representatives successful hopes of reaching a longer-term bid woody with Tehran. No steadfast day had been finalized arsenic of Friday morning, but talks could resume arsenic soon arsenic Monday, underscoring the fluid and uncertain quality of the talks.

At the halfway of the imaginable outreach is Vice President JD Vance, who is being considered for a instrumentality travel to Islamabad, wherever back-channel negotiations person softly taken place. He would apt beryllium joined by Steve Witkoff, President Trump's peculiar envoy to the Middle East, who has played an progressively disposable relation successful the administration's effort to broker agreements successful the region.

Mr. Trump took rounds of telephone calls from antithetic reporters connected Friday and made respective claims connected the issue. He told Bloomberg's Kate Sullivan that helium had not made a determination arsenic to who would pb the adjacent circular of in-person talks. The president said it would beryllium a radical that could see Vance, Witkoff and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law.

The president told NewsNation's Kellie Meyer that Iran had agreed to halt enriching uranium. Axios' Barak Ravid said Mr. Trump expected an Iran woody "in a time oregon two."

The prospective sojourn follows an exhaustive circular of talks past week successful Islamabad, wherever Vance led hours of negotiations with Iranian intermediaries. Those discussions ended without a breakthrough, leaving halfway disputes unresolved — including the scope of Iran's atomic activities and the conditions for ending the warfare that began successful February.

Still, officials connected some sides person struck a notably measured code successful public, suggesting that diplomacy, portion strained, is not yet exhausted. American officials person indicated a willingness to proceed engagement adjacent arsenic subject operations proceed. Iranian representatives, for their part, person signaled cautious openness to further dialogue, though they person insisted immoderate meaningful advancement would necessitate concessions Washington has truthful acold been reluctant to offer.

Meanwhile, elder Western leaders are convening successful Paris connected Friday for urgent talks aimed astatine safeguarding state of navigation done the Strait of Hormuz, a captious artery for planetary vigor supplies.

French President Emmanuel Macron volition big the gathering successful idiosyncratic alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, underscoring the level of interest among large European powers arsenic tensions successful the portion persist.

More than 30 further representatives from Europe, Asia and Latin America are expected to articulation virtually, reflecting the wide planetary stakes tied to the waterway, which handles astir 20% of the world's lipid shipments.

Discussions whitethorn code a scope of imaginable measures, according to a French official, including coordinated naval escorts for commercialized vessels, expanded demining operations and enhanced intelligence-sharing mechanisms. The authoritative said organizers stay successful continuous interaction with some the United States and Iran. Neither country, nor Israel, is participating straight successful Friday's talks.

But arsenic administrations navigate diplomatic solutions, commercialized ships adjacent the Strait of Hormuz person their ain precarious quagmire: mines successful the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. officials told CBS News successful March determination were astatine slightest a twelve underwater Iranian mines successful the captious passageway. Iran has historically enjoyed a stockpile of thousands of naval mines mostly produced by Tehran, China oregon Russia.

On Friday, Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi posted to X, "In enactment with the ceasefire successful Lebanon, the transition for each commercialized vessels done Strait of Hormuz is declared wholly unfastened for the remaining play of ceasefire, connected the coordinated way arsenic already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran."

However, the U.S. Navy posted an advisory to vessel captains that the excavation menace successful parts of the Strait of Hormuz "[are] not afloat understood and avoidance of [the] country should beryllium considered," according to the U.S. Navy advisory reviewed by CBS News.

Mr. Trump said on Truth Social that Iran, with the assistance of the United States, volition region each mines from the strait.

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