Trump Cancels Emissary Trip to Pakistan Amid Iran Tensions, Markets React Cautiously

President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he has canceled plans to send U.S. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan for direct talks with Iranian officials, following the departure of Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi from Islamabad.

Trump said he directed Witkoff and Kushner, his son-in-law, not to make the 18-hour flight to Pakistan after Iran’s chief negotiator left the country after meeting only with Pakistani officials. He stated that the trip would involve “too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!” and criticized what he described as “tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.'”

“Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards; they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had arrived in Islamabad on Saturday and met with Pakistan’s military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. According to Iran’s state-run Press TV, Araghchi departed Islamabad the same day after sharing “Iran’s position concerning a workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran” with Pakistani officials. He added that he had “yet to see if the U.S. Is truly serious about diplomacy.”