The White House announced Friday that U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will head to Pakistan today to participate in direct peace talks with Iran.
While Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is indeed in Islamabad to discuss regional peace, Iran’s semi-state news agency Tasnim, as well as Nour News Agency, a news outlet affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported that he has no intention of meeting with U.S. officials.
This uncertainty about the exact status of negotiations is nothing new. Nor does it necessarily mean that some form of dialogue between the two sides won’t take place.
In late March, there were also conflicting statements about whether the United States and Iran were holding talks to end the fighting.
US President Donald Trump said at the time that the US had had a “productive dialogue” with Iran, but Tehran denied any dialogue with the US. The same day, Iranian intelligence sources acknowledged that there was “cooperation” between the US and Tehran and told CNN that Iran was ready to listen to “appropriate” proposals.
The United States then held high-stakes talks with Iran in Pakistan in early April, but they ended without an agreement.
Days later, Iranian state media said there were no plans to hold another round of negotiations, despite “claims by some Pakistani intelligence sources and Western media about holding the next round of Islamabad talks.”
