President Trump announced that he has called off plans for U.S. negotiators to travel to Pakistan for peace talks with Iran, saying that if the Iranians want to deal, they can pick up the phone.
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had been scheduled to fly to Islamabad for another round of negotiations, but Mr. Trump confirmed Saturday the talks are off.
“I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going to Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians. Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
His post came shortly after he told at least two media outlets that he had scrapped the 18-hour trip.
“They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around talking about nothing,” Mr. Trump told Fox News reporter Aisha Hasnie in a phone conversation.
He also told Axios that the decision to scrap the trip doesn’t mean he plans to resume the war.
“No. It doesn’t mean that. We haven’t thought about it yet,” he said.
The decision to jettison the talks came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reportedly left Islamabad on Saturday following a meeting with Pakistani officials.
He met in Pakistan with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir on topics including “bilateral ties, regional and international developments, and expanding cooperation,” according to the Iranian government.
“Very fruitful visit to Pakistan, whose good offices and brotherly efforts to bring back peace to our region we very much value,” said Mr. Araghchi in a Saturday post on X. “Shared Iran’s position concerning workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran. Have yet to see if the U.S. is truly serious about diplomacy.”
