This follows the announcement of a “timely tour” to Pakistan by Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi.
The United States has confirmed that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Pakistan on Saturday for fresh negotiations with Iran following days of impasse.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Fox News on Friday, “I can confirm that Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be heading back to Pakistan tomorrow morning to engage in talks… with representatives from the Iranian delegation.”As the US president urged them to do, the Iranians made contact and requested this face-to-face meeting, she said.
Leavitt continued, “Everyone will be ready to fly to Pakistan if needed, but first these top aides will travel there and report back to US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.”
The US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have played a key role in the first round of negotiations that took place in Pakistan on April 11 and 12.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian negotiating team in the first round of negotiations, and US Vice President JD Vance will both be conspicuously absent from the second round of negotiations.
The announcement of a “timely tour” to Pakistan, Oman, and Russia with an emphasis on “bilateral matters and regional developments” was made by Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.starting a timely tour of Moscow, Muscat, and Islamabad. My visits are intended to consult on regional developments and work closely with our partners on bilateral issues. “We prioritise our neighbours,” he wrote on X.
Iran earlier declared that it would not engage in negotiations unless the United States lifted its blockade of the waterway of Hormuz, while the United States demanded verifiable guarantees that Tehran would halt its nuclear program and release its own embargo of the waterway.
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth stated that Trump had stated that the US “had all the time in the world and we are not anxious for a deal” during a Pentagon briefing on Friday.
Iran had an opportunity to reach a “good deal, a wise deal,” he continued.
