US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will head to Pakistan on Saturday morning to engage in “direct talks” with their Iranian counterparts, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed on Friday.
“The Iranians reached out” and asked for a personal interview, as President Donald Trump had requested, Leavitt said on Fox News.
“So the president is sending Steve and Jared to hear what they have to say, and we hope that it will be a successful discussion and we hope that he will move the ball forward in the agreement,” he said.
The announcement marks a potential diplomatic breakthrough after the appearance of peace talks between the warring countries earlier this week.
Vice President JD Vance, who led the previous US delegation to Islamabad in the first round of talks with Iran, will not attend this weekend’s talks, Leavitt said.
“The vice president is still very involved in the whole process, and he will be representing here in the United States, along with the president and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the national security team for updates,” he said.
“And of course, everyone will be waiting to fly to Pakistan if necessary. But first, Steve and Jared will go there to report to the president, the vice president, and the rest of the delegation.”
Trump told Reuters in a phone call later on Friday that Iran “will make an offer,” adding that he did not know what it would be and “we’ll have to see.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said earlier on Friday that he was “starting a timely trip” to Islamabad, Muscat and Moscow to “connect with our partners on bilateral issues and discuss regional developments.”
The Islamabad talks “will be coordinated with the Pakistanis,” Leavitt said in an interview with Fox.
The first round of peace talks, held about two weeks ago in Islamabad and led on the US side by Vance, ended without an agreement.
The American delegation, including Vance, was expected to return to Pakistan earlier this week to continue the talks, but the trip was delayed as Iranian officials reportedly said they would not come.
Much of the discussion has focused on the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route that has seen traffic slow amid Iranian threats and, since last week, a retaliatory US military blockade.
Trump, in an interview with Reuters, said that the US will not lift its embargo on Iranian ports until an agreement is reached.
The tensions have further strained the already fragile arms embargo, which was announced on April 7 amid Trump’s threats that “the entire civilization of Iran will die” unless a deal is struck.
Despite continued pressure on the crisis, Trump on Tuesday unilaterally extended the ceasefire shortly before it expired.
After the war began on February 28, the Trump administration repeatedly said it expected the operation to be short and completed in four to six weeks.
Since that deadline passed, the administration has revised its timeline, while insisting that previous US conflicts have taken too long.
“Unlike the endless wars of the past that dragged on for years and decades with little to show for it, Operation Epic Fury delivered a significant military result in a matter of weeks,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a press conference Friday morning.
The wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan “have all lasted years, decades,” with “unclear missions, quicksand” and “little to show for it,” Hegseth said, echoing similar language used by Trump.
Hegseth emphasized that Iran’s operations have been “laser-focused from the beginning” on the goal of Iran never acquiring a nuclear weapon. In fact, the administration initially prioritized changing issues about the war’s objectives, including regime change and concerns about the safety of Iranian protesters.
Trump said Thursday he was in no rush to make a peace deal, saying the war had had less of an impact on both oil prices and prices than he had expected.
