IRAN’S top diplomat was heading to Pakistan today, where officials have been trying to get the US and Iran to meet for a second round of ceasefire negotiations.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media that he was on his way to Pakistan, Oman and Russia on a trip focused on “bilateral matters and regional developments.”

The White House had not said if it will also send a delegation to Pakistan by the time the Star published this story.

Mr Araghchi’s trip comes as much of the world has been on edge over a war that has killed thousands across the Middle East, seen US President Donald Trump threaten to wipe out a civilisation, halted fossil fuel exports through the Strait of Hormuz, and wreaked havoc on the global economy.

Two Pakistani officials told reporters on condition of anonymity today that Mr Araghchi was heading to Pakistan with a small government delegation.

Pakistan has been trying to get US and Iranian officials back to the table after Mr Trump this week announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire with Iran, honouring Islamabad’s request for more time for diplomatic outreach.

Meanwhile, Iran has kept its stranglehold on traffic through the strait, attacking three ships earlier this week, while the US has maintained its blockade of Iranian ports and ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that could be placing mines.

“Iran has an important choice, a chance to make a deal, a good deal, a wise deal,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters today. He said a second US aircraft carrier will join the blockade in a few days.

Washington now has three aircraft carriers in the region after the USS George HW 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.

The force includes 200 aircraft and 15,000 sailors and marines, US Central Command said.

Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, and over 2,290 people have been killed 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.

The situation in Lebanon remained tense a day after Mr Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon had supposedly agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks.

Hezbollah has not been a participant in the diplomacy brokered by Washington between the two governments.

The Israeli army asked residents of the southern Lebanese village of Deir Aames to evacuate, saying Hezbollah was using the village to launch attacks against Israel.

Israel’s military said it downed a drone over Lebanon following the launch of a small surface-to-air missile by Hezbollah.

The militant group, meanwhile, said it shot down an Israeli drone with a surface-to-air missile over the outskirts of the southern port city of Tyre.