President Donald Trump says he called off dispatching top US envoys to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran, telling Fox News that ″they can call us anytime they want”.
The president said in a social media post, “I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going is Islamabad.”
That came shortly after Trump told Fox News that he’d instructed US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner not to go.
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In a brief phone interview, Trump told Fox News that he told US negotiators Witkoff and Kushner, “You’re not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around talking about nothing.”
He wrote in the subsequent post, “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!”
Trump's comments on Saturday came after the White House said Friday that Witkoff and Kushner would be heading to Pakistan for another round of negotiations with Iran.
The president also repeated his past suggestions that the leadership of Iran remains unsettled, writing, “Nobody knows who is in charge.”
Trump’s post followed two Pakistani officials saying Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has left Pakistan without meeting US officials.
Senior Pakistani officials were at an airport near Islamabad to see him off. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Araghchi had met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and other senior officials about matters including Iran’s red lines in negotiations.
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Sharif spoke by phone on Saturday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, holding what he described as a “warm and constructive discussion” on the evolving regional situation.
In a post on X, Sharif said he appreciated Iran’s continued engagement, including the dispatch of a high-level delegation to Islamabad led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
He added that, with the support of friends and partners, Pakistan remains committed to serving as an “honest and sincere facilitator” to advance durable peace and lasting stability in the region.
Pakistani authorities on Saturday evening began easing restrictions following the departure of the Iranian delegation and the US decision not to send its delegation to Islamabad for potential talks, offering relief to hundreds of thousands of residents after nearly a week of near-lockdown conditions.
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Pakistan’s prime minister meets with Iran’s foreign minister
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday at the prime minister’s office in the capital, Islamabad.
Sharif’s office issued a statement saying the meeting was ongoing.
It said Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir were also present.
No further details were immediately available, and the statement only said the “current regional situation will be discussed.”
Trump says Iran presented new offers 10 minutes after he cancelled US team’s trip
Amid the stalled negotiations with Iran, the president said the Iranians sent over a new peace proposal, but that it “could have been better,” and rejected it.
“They gave us a paper that could have been better, and interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it, within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better,” Trump said to reporters on Saturday before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington from Florida.
The President wouldn’t offer specifics about what was in the latest proposal other than saying “they offered a lot.” But he stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump said he cancelled the latest rounds of negotiations with Iran because it was “a lot of traveling” and because his negotiators, Witkoff and Kushner, "weren’t meeting with the leader of the country".
Trump said the US will “deal by telephone and they can call us anytime they want” before adding that “we have all the cards”.
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Iran’s top diplomat meets with Pakistan army chief
Iran’s top diplomat and Pakistan’s army chief have discussed efforts to launch a new round of talks with the US.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Telegram that he met with Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir Saturday morning in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, and explained Iran’s views on ending the war between the Islamic Republic and the US.
Araghchi didn’t offer further details, but said Tehran will continue engaging in the Pakistani-led mediation efforts “until a result is achieved.”
Iran says continued US naval blockade will trigger ‘powerful response’
Iran’s joint military command warned in a statement Saturday that if the US continues its “naval blockades, banditry, and piracy in the region,” it will provoke a decisive military response from Iran.
The statement, carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, added that if the US and Israel renewed their aggression, they would face more losses.
It remains unclear whether Iran and the US will resume negotiations soon.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi left Pakistan, the key mediator in the negotiations between the two countries, a few hours ago, with no immediate word on possible resumption of talks.
Shortly after, Trump said in a social media post that he called off sending US envoys to Pakistan for negotiations.
