Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi expected to travel to Islamabad by this weekend

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat is expected to travel to Pakistan by this weekend for talks, two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

The officials declined to provide any other details about Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s visit, other than to say he would be accompanied by a small government delegation and could arrive as soon as Friday.

Pakistan has been trying to restart ceasefire talks between Iran and the United States.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

ISLAMABAD (AP) —

Iran’s top diplomat and Pakistani officials on Friday talked over details of the ceasefire in the war with the United States and Israel, part of an effort by Islamabad to get Tehran to send a delegation for a second round of negotiations with Washington.

Pakistan has been trying to get American and Iranian officials back to the table but talks that had been hoped for earlier this week didn’t materialize. U.S. President Donald Trump announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan's request earlier this week as it sought more time for diplomatic outreach.

That hasn't lowered tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway though which a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas is shipped during peacetime. Iran has kept its stranglehold on traffic through the strait, attacking three ships earlier this week, while the U.S. has maintained its blockade of Iranian ports and ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that could be placing mines.

Washington now has three aircraft carriers in the region after the USS George H.W. Bush arrived in the Indian Ocean this week. The USS Abraham Lincoln is in the Arabian Sea and the USS Gerald R. Ford is in the Red Sea.

It is the first time since 2003 that three American carriers have been operating in the region simultaneously. The force includes 200 aircraft and 15,000 sailors and Marines, U.S. Central Command said.

The war has sent oil prices skyrocketing with Brent crude, the international standard, at more than $107 per barrel in spot trading on Friday, up nearly 50% over where it was on Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran to start the war.

Pakistan forges ahead with diplomatic efforts

In their call Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar and Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, talked over “regional developments and issues related to the ceasefire,” according to a statement from Araghchi, which did not go into further detail.

Later, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said that “both sides exchanged views on regional developments, the ceasefire, and ongoing diplomatic efforts being pursued by Islamabad in the context of U.S.-Iran engagement.”

It added that Dar “underscored the importance of sustained dialogue and engagement to address outstanding issues, in order to advance regional peace and stability at the earliest.”

Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, and over 2,290 people in Lebanon, where new fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah broke out two days after the war started, according to authorities.

Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.