ISLAMABAD — Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Field Marshal Asim Munir “in his first working meeting during his visit to Islamabad” early Saturday morning, Iranian state media reported.

Tehran has still not confirmed it would meet with American officials during the trip, though White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday announced the US negotiators Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would head to Islamabad on Saturday for continued talks with Iran.

Pakistani National Security Advisor and head of Army Intelligence Gen. Asim Malik, Pakistani Interior Minister Syed Mohsen Naqvi, as well as Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, Iranian Ambassador to Islamabad Amiri Moghadam, and Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmail Baghaei also attended the Saturday meeting.

First Lady Melania Trump announced a new beehive on the South Lawn -- shaped like the White House.

The new hive, hand-crafted by a local artisan, will add two new bee colonies to the existing two colonies at the White House.

Honey production at the White House is expected to increase by 30 pounds annually.

The honey will be packaged for official White House gifts, used in meals served at the White House and donated to local food kitchens.

Vice President JD Vance was photographed Friday speaking with President Trump ahead of a US diplomatic visit to Islamabad for peace talks with an Iranian delegation.

The photos also appear to show the vice president at one point speaking with a "JK" and "SW" — the initials of special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who were both dispatched to Pakistan.

A senior Trump administration official previously noted that Vance is “willing to drop everything” and join the envoys in person “if needed.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Friday that the US has frozen $344 million in Iran-linked cryptocurrency.

The "sanctioning of multiple wallets tied to Iran" is part of the Treasury Department's pressure campaign, dubbed Operation Economic Fury, to cripple Tehran's war effort.

"We will follow the money that Tehran is desperately attempting to move outside of the country and target all financial lifelines tied to the regime," Bessent said.

The economic pressure campaign has ramped up during a cease-fire amid the US' military actions against Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury.

Treasury officials noted that the Central Bank of Iran has been evading some of the sanctions with "increasingly complex methods" to conceal its digital assets.

Its Office of Foreign Assets Control slapped more economic penalties on a China-based teapot refinery on Friday for playin "a vital role in sustaining Iran's oil economy."

Roughly 40 shipping firms and vessels tied to Iran's shadow fleet were also sanctioned.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have concluded their briefing on Operation Epic Fury.

It lasted approximately 32 minutes, with Hegseth doing most of the talking.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Friday that Iran laying more mines in the Strait of Hormuz would be a violation of the fragile cease-fire with the US.

"If there’s attempts to recklessly and irresponsibly lay more mines, we’re going to deal with that. It’s a violation of the cease-fire," Hegseth told reporters at a briefing.

The US has started a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz to counter Iran's attempts to take over the key waterway and control shipping.

“So transit is occurring much more limited than anybody would like to see, and with more risk that people would like to see, but that’s because Iran is doing irresponsible things with small, fast boats, crafts, like I said, with weapons on them," Hegseth said.

Asked about a Washington Post report that the Pentagon has estimated to lawmakers it could take up to six months to fully sweep the Strait of Hormuz for Iranian-laid mines, Hegseth did not deny the assessment.

"We would not speculate on a timeline," he said. "I saw that report. It was based on, again, another leak from a closed door session, which was supposed to be classified. And apparently, allegedly, that was something that was said."

"We feel confident in our ability, in the correct period of time, to clear any mines that we identify, and would encourage other countries to be a part of such an effort as well, but we're tracking that very closely."

Asked about criticism of the war by Pope Leo XIV and American Catholic bishops, Hegseth responds: "The Pope's going to do his thing, that's fine. We know what our mission is. We know what authority we have. We're very clear about that.

"We follow the orders of the president. We've got lawyers all over the place looking at what we're doing and why we're doing it, and giving us every authority necessary under the Constitution and under our laws to execute it.

"So we feel very confident across the spectrum about what we're doing and why we're doing and the legal justification that we're following in order to do it."

Hegseth again with a shot at European countries:

"You saw the -- I would call it a silly conference in Europe last week, where they got together and talked about maybe doing something eventually when things are done. Those are not serious efforts yet.

"We would welcome that. We would welcome a serious European effort to do something about this strait and this passage, considering it's their energy capabilities that are most at stake.

"I think it's a wake-up call. It's a wake-up call for countries around the world. If you have capabilities, or you don't, otherwise, you're at the best of a country like Iran, and the only country that can do something about it is the United States military."

Hegseth and Caine have begun taking questions from the press.

Asked about the status of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the war secretary says: "We are seeing vessels transiting. There are paths that are open, and part of what the president is threatening is ensuring, if there's attempts to recklessly and irresponsibly lay more mines, we're going to deal with that. It's a violation of the cease-fire.

"So transit is occurring much more limited than anybody would like to see, and with more risk that people would like to see, but that's because Iran is doing irresponsible things with small, fast boats, crafts, like I said, with with weapons on them."

Gen. Dan Caine concluded his remarks by honoring the victims of the April 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Lebanon by Iran-backed Hezbollah, the 43rd anniversary of which was marked this past Saturday.

"At that time, this was the deadliest attack on a US diplomatic mission, and this was the first attack conducted by Iranian backed forces on Americans," Caine said.

The suicide car bombing killed 63 people, including 17 Americans -- eight of whom worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Three US Army soldiers and one Marine also died in the attack.

One notable piece of news from Hegseth during his opening comments.

A second aircrafter carrier "will join the blockade in just a few days," he told reporters at the Pentagon.

Gen. Dan Caine confirms that Iran seized two vessels earlier this week that were attempting to traverse the Strait of Hormuz.

"Iran has repeatedly sought to offensively and proactively expand the conflict by aggression against its neighbors and its attacks on global shipping through the Strait [of Hormuz].

"To date, Iran has attacked five merchant vessels, [and] seized two of them that were attempting to transit the strait, and these include ships that Iran itself had cleared to proceed."