U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will head to Pakistan on Saturday morning for “direct talks” with their Iranian counterparts, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed Friday.
Levitt said on Fox News that “the Iranian side has reached out” and asked for a face-to-face meeting, as requested by President Donald Trump.
“So the president is sending Steve and Jared to listen. We’re hoping it will be a productive conversation and hopefully move the ball forward toward an agreement,” she said.
The announcement signals a possible diplomatic breakthrough after prospects for further peace talks between the warring powers appeared stalled earlier this week.
Vice President J.D. Vance, who led the U.S. delegation to Islamabad earlier for initial negotiations with Iran, will not attend this weekend’s talks, Levitt said.
“The Vice President remains deeply involved in this entire process and is standing by here in the United States with the President, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the entire national security team for updates,” she said.
“And of course, we’re all on standby to fly to Pakistan if necessary. But first, Steve and Jared will be going to Pakistan to brief the president, vice president, and the rest of the team.”
Trump told Reuters in a phone call late Friday that Iran would “make an offer,” adding that he didn’t yet know what that would be and “we’ll have to wait and see.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said early Friday that he would “undertake timely visits” to Islamabad, Muscat and Moscow to “work closely with partners on bilateral issues and discuss regional developments.”
In an interview with Fox, Levitt said the Islamabad talks “will be mediated by the Pakistani side.”
The first round of peace talks, held in Islamabad about two weeks ago with Vance leading the US side, ended without an agreement.
A U.S. delegation, including Vance, was scheduled to return to Pakistan earlier this week for further negotiations, but the visit was postponed after Iranian officials reportedly said they would not show up.
Much of the mutual thorniness has centered on the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route, but traffic is slowly dwindling due to threats from Iran and, as of last week, a retaliatory naval blockade by the United States.
President Trump said in an interview with Reuters that the United States would not lift its blockade of Iranian ports until a deal was reached.
The tensions are further straining an already fragile ceasefire announced on April 7, amid President Trump’s threat that Iran’s “entire civilization will be destroyed” if no deal is reached.
Despite continuing tensions in the Strait, President Trump unilaterally extended the ceasefire on Tuesday just before it was due to expire.
Since the war began on February 28, the Trump administration has repeatedly said it expects the operation to be short-lived and over within four to six weeks.
Since that deadline passed, the administration has restructured its schedule, but stressed that previous U.S. conflicts have lasted much longer.
“Unlike the endless wars of the past, which lasted years or decades with little success, Operation Epic Fury produced decisive military results in just a few weeks,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said at a press conference Friday morning.
Hegseth echoed Trump, saying the wars in South Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan “all took years and decades,” had “vague missions, shifting sands,” and “few results.”
Hegseth claimed that Iran’s operations were focused on the goal “from the beginning that Iran would never have a nuclear weapon.” Indeed, the administration initially advocated a changing narrative about the war’s objectives, including concerns about regime change and the safety of Iranian protesters.
President Trump said Thursday that the war has not had as much of an impact as expected on both stock prices and oil prices, and that he is in no hurry to reach a peace deal.
