The White House is sending Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan tonight for talks expected to include Iran’s foreign minister, who is due to arrive with a small team, according to state-linked media. Vice President JD Vance, who led the delegation last time, is staying in Washington.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president wants to see whether there is a shift in Tehran’s posture, and the two envoys will report back to the White House. If there is progress, Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be sent next, a sign the administration is keeping the next step in reserve while trying to test whether the channel can move. Witkoff and Kushner have already negotiated with the Iranians directly and indirectly, giving the White House a pair of envoys it believes can probe for an opening without committing the full weight of the cabinet.
The diplomatic push comes as Trump also extended by 90 days a Jones Act waiver he first announced as a 60-day waiver in March. The waiver was meant to steady energy prices and ease oil and gas shipments to the United States after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the White House said new data gathered since the first waiver showed significantly more supply reaching US ports faster. Brent crude eased on the news, swinging between $103 a barrel and more than $107, though it remained nearly 50 percent higher than it was on February 28.
The Strait of Hormuz closure has rippled through global maritime trade flows, including the Panama Canal, and the pressure is being felt as much in markets as at sea. Former US General Mark Kimmitt said a third US aircraft carrier in the Middle East signaled a build-up of capability rather than an immediate lurch toward escalation, calling the ship a floating airfield that lets the United States operate without relying on regional bases. He said the deployment may allow rotation of forces rather than a dramatic escalation, but added that the blockade is hitting hardest in the economic sphere and described the standoff as a dual blockade by the United States and Iran. The result is a diplomatic opening being tested under military pressure, with each side still trying to see whether the other will move first.
There is no sign yet that either Washington or Tehran is ready to concede much. But by sending Witkoff and Kushner now, and leaving Vance and Rubio for a later step if talks produce something tangible, the administration is betting that pressure, price signals and a narrowed channel can still produce movement where earlier efforts have stalled.
