Washington, DC [US], April 25: US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he had canceled a planned trip by a US delegation to Islamabad, which was set to be led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, his son-in-law. The visit was intended for the second round of peace talks aimed at finding a comprehensive resolution to the ongoing hostilities in West Asia.
The news was shared by Fox News White House correspondent Aishah Hasnie, who revealed that the decision came after Trump deemed the long-distance engagement unnecessary and unproductive. Hasnie, who spoke directly with Trump, reported that the president told his team, "I 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. 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 announcement followed the departure of the Iranian delegation, led by Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, from Islamabad on Saturday evening. The delegation had spent a day in high-level talks with Pakistani leadership, leaving behind Pakistan's ambitions to broker a US-Iran peace deal in shambles. As reported by Al Jazeera, the Iranian team delivered an "official list of demands" to Pakistani officials, outlining conditions for the US and Israel to follow to resolve the conflict in West Asia.
This departure marks the collapse of Islamabad’s hopes to facilitate direct negotiations between the US and Iran. Araghchi is now scheduled to continue his diplomatic journey to Oman and Russia. In a Telegram message, the Iranian foreign minister outlined Iran's "principled positions" regarding recent developments related to the ceasefire and the complete cessation of the "imposed war" by the US and Israel against Iran.
The latest diplomatic developments echo the failures of previous talks. The first round of negotiations, which took place in Islamabad, featured US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliamentary Speaker MB Ghalibaf. That meeting dragged on for 21 hours but ultimately failed to produce any breakthroughs. ( With Agency Input)
