White House sending Witkoff, Kushner to Pakistan on Saturday for Iran talks

The Trump administration is sending special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan this weekend for a second round of talks with Iran officials.

Witkoff and Kushner are set to leave Saturday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Friday.

“I can confirm special envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be off to Pakistan again tomorrow morning to engage in talks, direct talks, intermediated by the Pakistanis, who have been incredible friends and mediators throughout this entire process, with representatives from the Iranian delegation,” Leavitt said.

She said the Iranians asked for this round of in-person talks in Islamabad.

“We’re hopeful that it will be a productive conversation and hopefully move the ball forward towards a deal,” she said.

Vice President Vance, who took a leading role in the last in-person talks, will not be attending.

“The vice president remains deeply involved in this entire process, and he’ll be standing by here in the United States, along with the president and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the entire national security team for updates,” Leavitt said.

She added that “everyone will be on standby to fly to Pakistan if necessary.”

Axios reported that Vance isn’t attending because his Iranian counterpart, Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, will not be present for the talks. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will be in attendance.

“Ultimately, the goal of Operation Epic Fury was to ensure that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon, and we’ve now transitioned into this diplomatic phase to get that done through the means of a deal,” Leavitt said.

She told reporters after her interview that the administration has “seen some progress” in recent days from Iran.

This will be the first in-person meeting since President Trump set an indefinite ceasefire with Iran earlier this week. He has maintained there’s no timeline for Iran to present him with a unified peace proposal.

The U.S. blockade on Iranian ports is still in place, with Trump saying Thursday that it’s “100 percent effective.”

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