Fox News reported on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a planned visit to Pakistan by envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, which had been intended for peace talks with Iran.
The network added that Trump personally informed it of the cancellation.
Trump said that it was not worth sending the U.S. delegation on an 18-hour trip to Pakistan while the United States “holds all the cards” in the conflict with Iran.
He added that the Iranians could contact the United States anytime they wanted.
He continued: “I told my team some time ago that they were preparing to leave, and I said to them: ‘No, you are not going to take an 18-hour flight to go there. We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you are not going to take another 18-hour flight just to sit and talk about nothing.’”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had left Islamabad, which had been leading mediation efforts between Tehran and Washington, after holding talks with Pakistani officials, according to Iranian state media on Saturday.
The IRNA news agency reported: “Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Islamabad after meeting senior Pakistani officials and discussing bilateral relations and regional developments.”
A Pakistani source involved in the talks told Reuters on Saturday that Araghchi had informed Pakistani officials of Tehran’s demands in the negotiations, as well as its reservations regarding U.S. demands, during his visit to Islamabad.
(Reuters)
