Trump dispatches Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan for new talks with Iran’s foreign minister

The White House says Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Pakistan on Saturday for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, as Washington tries to restart stalled U.S.-Iran diplomacy.

AP reported the development on April 24, saying Araghchi had arrived in Islamabad and that the White House was sending the two advisers to meet him. Reuters later confirmed the trip, and NPR/AP reported that the White House had officially set the Pakistan meeting for Saturday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said JD Vance is not currently planning to attend, but remains on standby if the negotiations move forward. That means the expected U.S. delegation will be lower profile than some earlier speculation suggested.

The talks come after previous U.S.-Iran contacts failed to produce a deal. Pakistan is again positioning itself as a venue for follow-up diplomacy, with the Araghchi visit now turning into a more concrete negotiation track.

The immediate questions are whether the two sides meet as scheduled and whether the Pakistan talks produce a new ceasefire step or a broader negotiating framework.