Iran: Trump reconsiders. Witkoff and Kushner mission canceled

A sudden about-face from Donald Trump on the diplomatic front with Iran. The American President has canceled at the last moment the trip to Pakistan by special envoy Steve Witkoff and advisor Jared Kushner, who were scheduled to meet with the Iranian delegation as part of the nuclear negotiations.

The announcement came directly from Trump during a telephone interview with Fox News, using tones that were anything but diplomatic. “I told my guys, as they were getting ready to leave: stop everything. You’re not taking an 18-hour flight to go there. We hold all the cards. They can call us whenever they want, but we aren’t doing any more 18-hour flights to sit around and talk about nothing.”

The President then escalated his rhetoric further, depicting Iran as a power now devoid of leverage. “They have every card against them; they don’t have a military anymore,” Trump declared, adding a remark on the power vacuum in Tehran: “They practically have no leaders left. We don’t know who the leaders are. And the most important thing is that they don’t know either.”

Trump did, however, clarify that the cancellation of the trip does not equate to a definitive breakdown of negotiations, nor a return to a war scenario. It is a sign of openness that leaves the door ajar, but strictly on Washington’s terms.

The move comes at a delicate moment for the Iranian dossier, with indirect talks between the two powers proceeding in fits and starts. The decision not to send Witkoff and Kushner, key figures in the administration’s negotiating strategy, is being read by observers more as psychological pressure on Tehran than as a sign of a total rupture. Trump’s message seems clear: the next move belongs to Iran.

Photo whitehouse.gov