ISLAMABAD (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump said he has told U.S. envoys not to go to Pakistan for more talks with Iran, shortly after Iran\u2019s top diplomat left Islamabad late Saturday.<\/p>\n
Trump added to Fox News: \u201cThey can call us anytime they want.\u201d The White House on Friday said Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would be going to Pakistan\u2019s capital to attempt to revive ceasefire negotiations.<\/p>\n
Iran<\/a>\u00a0\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Pakistan on Saturday evening, two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.<\/p>\n Araghchi had met with Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif about what he called Iran\u2019s red lines for negotiations, and said Tehran would engage with Pakistan\u2019s mediation efforts \u201cuntil a result is achieved.\u201d Iran had said talks would be indirect.<\/p>\n An open-ended\u00a0ceasefire<\/a>\u00a0has paused most\u00a0fighting<\/a>, but the\u00a0economic fallout<\/a>\u00a0grows with global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertilizer and\u00a0other supplies<\/a>\u00a0disrupted by the near-closure of the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n Iranian officials have openly asked how they can trust the U.S. after talks last year and early this year over Tehran\u2019s nuclear program ended with it being attacked by the U.S. and Israel.<\/p>\n Iran has said talks will be indirect<\/p>\n Islamabad had been in near-lockdown ahead of the expected talks. Pakistan has been trying to get U.S. and Iran back to the table since Trump this week announced an indefinite\u00a0extension of the ceasefire<\/a>, honoring Islamabad\u2019s request for more diplomatic outreach.<\/p>\n The White House on Friday said Trump was sending Witkoff and Kushner to meet with Araghchi. But Iran\u2019s foreign ministry said any talks would be indirect and Pakistani officials would convey messages.<\/p>\n The first round of talks in Pakistan, led on the U.S. side by Vice President JD Vance, lasted over 20 hours and were face-to-face, the highest-level direct talks between the longtime adversaries since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.<\/p>\n Araghchi and Trump\u2019s envoys held hours of\u00a0indirect talks in Geneva on Feb. 27<\/a>\u00a0but walked away without a deal. The next day, Israel and the United States started the war.<\/p>\n The standoff around the strait continues<\/p>\n The price of\u00a0Brent crude oil,<\/a>\u00a0the international standard, is still nearly 50% higher than when the war began because of Iran\u2019s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil passes in peacetime.<\/p>\n Iran attacked three ships this week, while the U.S. maintains a blockade on Iranian ports. Trump has ordered the military to\u00a0\u201cshoot and kill\u201d small boats<\/a>\u00a0that could be\u00a0placing mines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Saturday his country is sending minesweeper ships to the Mediterranean to help remove Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities end.<\/p>\n