Witkoff And Kushner Will Travel To Pakistan For New Round Of Talks With Iran, White House Says
Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Pakistan for a new round of negotiations with Iran on Saturday, the White House said on Friday.
White House press secretary Karolien Leavitt said in an interview on Fox News that they will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“We’re hopeful that it will be a productive conversation and hopefully move the ball forward to a deal,” Leavitt said.
She added that Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation in the first round of negotiations, won’t be traveling but remain “deeply involved” and will be on “standby” to fly if necessary.
“We’ve certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the last couple of days,” Leavitt added.
Iranian state media IRNA had reported earlier that Araghchi was going to Pakistan but did not mention talks with the U.S. The outlet said he will begin a “regional tour” that will also include Russia and Oman. “The purpose of this trip is bilateral consultations, discussions on current regional developments, and the latest situation of the war imposed by the United States and the Israeli regime against Iran,” the agency said.
Iran has so far refused to engage in a new formal round of negotiations with the U.S., largely citing its continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as a reason.
However, some reports have claimed that there is internal dissent in Tehran about how to proceed with the war.
The Jerusalem post detailed that officials in Israel and the U.S. believe Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is not actually ruling Iran, with control being exerted by the revolutionary guard (IRGC).
President Donald Trump appeared to give a similar view, saying in a social media post on Thursday that Iranian officials are “having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is.”
“They just don’t know! The infighting is between the “Hardliners,” who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY! We have total control over the Strait of Hormuz. No ship can enter or leave without the approval of the United States Navy. It is ‘Sealed up Tight,’ until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!” he added.
In fact, last weekend the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps rejected an announcement from Araghchi about Tehran reopening the strait for the duration of the ceasefire. Audio recordings of Gulf region sailors obtained by the Wall Street Journal said that the guard would reopen the waterway “not based on some fool’s tweet but on the orders of Leader Khamenei,” likely referring to Araghchi.
