Trump says US team won’t travel to Pakistan for Iran talks

President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators would not travel to Pakistan for talks with Iran, asserting that Washington holds the upper hand in the conflict. His remarks followed the departure of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi from Islamabad after meetings with Pakistan’s leadership.

Washington: President Donald Trump said on Saturday that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will no longer be going to Pakistan for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.

Trump told Fox News that it’s not worth the US delegation making the 18-hour flight to Pakistan when the US holds all the cards in the conflict with Iran.

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He added that the Iranians can call the US at any time they want.

“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. 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’,” Trump told Fox News.

Trump’s comments come after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday left Islamabad after meeting Pakistan’s top leadership.

His departure has ended the possibility of a second round of talks between the US and the Iranian delegations in Islamabad this week.

Araghchi, who met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and other senior officials, is now headed to Oman on the second leg of his three-nation tour.

This was supposed to be the second round of talks after the first on April 11-12 ended without a deal.

The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.