Another round of negotiations, following the collapse of the first meeting earlier this month, was expected to take place this week in Islamabad, but U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the trip was called off at the last minute.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Donald Trump said U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner would be wasting "too much time" traveling. He added, "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!!!"
It comes after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who arrived in Islamabad a day earlier for talks, said Tehran was not planning to meet with U.S. negotiators.
"No meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the U.S. Iran's observations would be conveyed to Pakistan," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
After meeting with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior Pakistani officials, Araghchi praised Pakistan's "brotherly efforts" to help "bring peace back to the region," describing his trip as "very fruitful," but expressed skepticism about Washington's intentions, saying Iran has "yet to see if the U.S. is truly serious about diplomacy."
But Trump said he received a new proposal from Iran "within 10 minutes" after the U.S. delegation's trip to Islamabad was canceled.
"They gave us a paper that should have been better. And interestingly, immediately, when I canceled it, within 10 minutes, we got a new paper that was much better," Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Florida.
He said Iran "offered a lot, but not enough," and added that the deal could be "simple," saying, "That whole deal is not complicated. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon."
Despite immediate progress being unlikely, neither side has fully closed the door to talks. The conflict is already approaching two months, with lingering uncertainty and rising tensions across the Middle East increasing pressure on Trump to find a way out.
Time is also ticking for Trump, as it would be difficult for him to continue military operations against Iran beyond May 1 without congressional approval under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which limits the use of force to 60 days unless approved by Congress.
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