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What recent developments are happening in U.S.-Iran negotiations?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. The White House says U.S. negotiators are planning to head to Islamabad, Pakistan for talks this weekend with Iran, this after President Trump extended a ceasefire in the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran indefinitely. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt.
The president was flexible in granting an extension of the ceasefire throughout this time. The president has decided to dispatch Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner back to Islamabad. The Iranians want to talk. They want to talk in person.
But Tehran says Foreign Minister Abbas Arachi, who's already in Islamabad, is there for talks with Russia and Oman, along with senior Pakistani officials. And a ministry spokesperson says on X Tonight that there are no planned meetings between the U.S. and Iran. The White House hasn't commented. Meanwhile, both Iran and the U.S.
continue their blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway where some 20 percent of the world's oil travels through. The Trump administration has extended a waiver of the Jones Act through the end of August. It's an attempt to help with domestic supplies of gas and other refined oil products.
And here's Camila Dominovsky reports, waiving the act makes it easier to move fuel around, but it doesn't significantly affect prices.
The Jones Act requires goods shipped from one U.S. port to another to be sent on a U.S.-built ship with a U.S. crew. The requirement boosts the domestic shipbuilding industry, but creates a headache for other industries. There just aren't very many ships that qualify.
The initial 60-day waiver of the act was meant to help companies adapt to the global disruption in oil supplies caused by the Iran war. Experts say it does make it easier to ship fuels from U.S. refineries to U.S. customers, but the effect on gasoline prices for consumers is minimal, by some estimates as little as a fraction of a penny. Camila Dominovsky, NPR News.
The Food and Drug Administration is now speeding up its review of psychedelics for treating mental health issues. And it's giving priority status to several psychedelic drugs, which companies have been studying for depression and PTSD. And Piers Willstone has more.
Three companies are submitting drug applications to the FDA. Two are for psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms for treating depression. The third is for a drug that's similar to MDMA, which has shown promise for PTSD. FDA is giving out special vouchers that are intended to expedite the agency's review of the drugs. It does not mean the drugs are FDA approved yet.
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