US negotiators are scheduled to leave for Pakistan on Saturday, but ​Iran said its officials did not plan to meet the Americans to discuss ending the war that has killed thousands of Iranian and Lebanese civilians and ‌roiled global markets.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are due to depart on Saturday morning for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the White House said.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that Iran had a chance to make a “good deal” with the United States.

“Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely,” ​he said. “All they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways.”

RGC arrests almost 240 suspects in raids across two provinces

The IRGC announced that its officials arrested nearly 240 people in operations in two provinces, Kurdistan and Kermanshah, Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency reported, according to Al Jazeera.

In the Kurdistan province, the IRGC said they arrested 11 people while also killing one member of a Kurdish armed group.

IRGC forces also seized a cache of arms and ammunition. Nearly 70 others were arrested in separate raids, Mehr reported, as per Al Jazeera.

In the Kermanshah province, the IRGC arrested 155 people, claiming that they belonged to “counter-revolutionary groups”, including four spies alleged to be associated with Israel’s Mossad.

In Tehran, the police announced the arrest of an individual accused of collecting and sharing “documentation of missile strike points to hostile networks”, according to Al Jazeera.

No direct talks

Araghchi ​arrived in the capital, Islamabad, on Friday. But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson posted on X that Iranian officials did ⁠not plan to meet with US representatives and that Tehran’s concerns would be conveyed to mediator Pakistan. The White House did not immediately respond to a ​request for comment on the Iranian statement.

Read: Iran ‘surprise’ resurrects faltering peace process

Washington is at a costly impasse with Tehran as Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries ​one-fifth of global oil shipments, while the US blocks Iran’s oil exports. The US-Israeli war on Iran, entering its ninth week, has pushed energy prices to multi-year highs, stoking inflation and darkening global growth prospects.

Trump claims Iran planning to make offer

Trump told Reuters on Friday that Iran planned to make an offer aimed at satisfying US demands but that he did not know what the offer entailed. He declined ​to say who Washington was negotiating with, “but we’re dealing with the people that are in charge now”.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US ​had seen some progress from the Iranian side in recent days and hoped more would come this weekend, while Vice President JD Vance was ready to travel to Pakistan ‌as well.

Vance, ⁠Witkoff, Kushner and Araqchi, as well as the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, took part in inconclusive talks in Islamabad two weeks ago.

Araghchi, who posted on X that he would also be visiting Pakistan, Oman and Russia, met Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday at the Serena Hotel, where the earlier talks were held, while a US logistics and security team was in place in Islamabad, according to Pakistani sources.

Germany sending minesweeper for potential Hormuz deployment

The German navy is sending a minesweeper to the Mediterranean to prepare for a potential deployment in the Strait of Hormuz, said Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, according to Al Jazeera.

He told the German newspaper, Rheinische Post, that the vessel would be deployed alongside a command and supply ship, but did not say when.

Al Jazeera reported Pistorius said preconditions for any deployment would include a sustained ceasefire between the US and Iran, a legal framework under international law for the operation and a mandate from Germany’s Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, according to the DPA news agency.

Pistorius noted Germany’s naval capabilities, saying it traditionally plays a leading role within NATO in mine clearance.

Ceasefires in place, few ships crossing Hormuz

Trump unilaterally ​extended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday ​to allow more time for ⁠the negotiators to reconvene.

Oil prices surged this week, with Brent crude futures soaring 16%, on uncertainty over the fate of the peace talks and as violence flared in the region.

Shipping data on Friday showed that five ships had crossed the Strait ​of Hormuz in the previous 24 hours, compared to around 130 a day before the war that the US ​and Israel launched ⁠on February 28. The ships included an Iranian oil-products tanker, but none of the vast crude-carrying supertankers that normally feed global energy markets.

On Thursday, Israel and Lebanon extended their ceasefire for three weeks at a White House meeting brokered by Trump, but there was little sign of an end to the fighting in southern Lebanon.

Israel has been attacking Lebanese territory for the past year, and invaded ⁠its northern ​neighbour last month to root out Iran’s Hezbollah allies after the militant group fired across ​the border. Tehran says a ceasefire in Lebanon is a precondition for talks.

Read more: Hezbollah defiant in face of ceasefire extension

Lebanese authorities reported an Israeli strike killed six people, and Hezbollah downed an Israeli drone. Israel’s military said it ​had killed six armed Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon, in addition to the thousand-plus civilians and multiple journalists that Israel has killed or otherwise targeted.

With input from Web Desk.