US President Donald Trump on Saturday abruptly canceled a planned trip by special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to Pakistan, withdrawing from what was billed a day earlier as a possible start to fragile Iran talks.
“I have canceled the trip of my representatives to Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians,” the president said.he wrote on Truth Social. “Too much time wasted traveling, too much work! Apart from that, there is a lot of conflict and confusion within their ‘leadership’. No one knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they don’t! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
The sudden change underscores the consternation surrounding the administration’s diplomatic push in recent days — and Trump’s impatience with talks that don’t quickly produce results.
In a separate statement released by the White House, Trump said the United States has “all the cards.”
“I told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘No, you’re not going to make an 18-hour flight to get there,'” the president said. “We’ve got all the cards. They can call us whenever they want, but you’re not going to take 18-hour flights to sit and talk anymore.”
It comes after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and his delegation left Islamabad after arriving on Friday for talks with Pakistani leaders.
A trip to Islamabad had been hastily assembled, andWhite House on Fridayindicating that Witkoff and Kushner will travel to Pakistan for indirect talks with Iranian officials, with Islamabad serving as a mediator. Vice President JD Vance was expected to join if talks showed signs of progress, weeks after a failed trip to Pakistan himself.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that “we’ve certainly seen progress from the Iranian side over the last few days.”
But the president’s cancellation on Saturday suggests a deal has yet to be reached.
