By Bonface Mulyungi
US President Donald Trump has cancelled envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s trip to Pakistan for talks on the war with Iran.
Donald Trump tells Fox News that envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will no longer be heading to Pakistan for talks, the news outlet reports.
It quotes the president as saying: “We have all the cards. 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.”The outlet says the US president told its White House correspondent: “I’ve told my people, a little while go they were getting ready to leave and I said ‘nope, you’re not going to make an 18-hour flight to go there'”We have all the cards, they can call us any time they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around and talk about nothing.”When asked for comment by the BBC’s US partner CBS News, the White House deferred to Trump’s quote to Fox News.
US President Donald Trump has confirmed he’s cancelled his envoys’ trip to Islamabad.In a post on Truth Social he says: “I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going is Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians.”Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!”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!!!”There had been little hope for any diplomatic breakthroughs this weekend. Now, what little there was is gone entirely.
The proposed US delegation, led by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, already lacked the weight of the vice-president. JD Vance was “on standby”, but was not going to be initially involved.The fact that even the lower-level team have now cancelled their trip is a sign of how far apart the sides are.
Speaking yesterday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said “we hope that positive developments will come from this meeting” – despite the fact Tehran had flatly denied any meeting was even planned.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did travel to Pakistan – which has been mediating – but only for bilateral talks with the hosts.
His statements after that meeting didn’t give much, if anything, away, but they did give the sense that Iran has not shifted dramatically from its previous positions.
As well as thanking his Pakistani hosts, he said he set out Iran’s “views and considerations” and expressed “readiness to continue Pakistan’s mediation efforts until a result is achieved”. In short, we’re ready to negotiate, but don’t expect capitulation.
The primary sticking point seems to remain the Strait of Hormuz, that crucial waterway which both sides are now partially blockading.
The fact that an issue that was not even on the agenda before the war started is now front and centre, suggests that a lasting resolution to this war is a long way away.
