April 25 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has canceled the trip to Islamabad, Pakistan, in which Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were planning to meet with Iranian officials.
“I’ve told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18-hour flight to go there,” Fox News’ White House correspondent Aishah Hasnie reported the president said. “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 two were scheduled to fly to Pakistan Saturday to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the White House confirmed Friday.
But Iranian state news agency IRNA said that no meeting had been scheduled.
Araghchi landed in Islamabad on Friday night for talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Field Marshal Asim Munir, Axios reported. A Pakistani official told Axios that the meeting was expected to focus on relaunching negotiations with the Trump administration.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has departed Islamabad and is on his way to Muscat, Oman, CBS News reported.
Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance traveled with Witkoff and Kushner to Islamabad for talks with Iran, but the negotiations failed. The war in Iran has continued since the first attack by the United States in late February. The Strait of Hormuz, a key oil corridor, has been closed by Iran and the United States since the war began.