U.S. President Donald Trump has cancelled a planned trip to Pakistan by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, delivering a fresh setback to efforts aimed at ending the war with Iran after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Islamabad without any clear diplomatic breakthrough.
The decision came after Araghchi held high-level meetings with Pakistani officials, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and delivered Tehran’s position on ending the conflict. Trump said the trip would take too much time and cost too much, while U.S. reporting also pointed to frustration in Washington over Iran’s offer and uncertainty around direct talks.
Araghchi departed Islamabad after speaking with Pakistani leaders, but the visit produced no public sign of progress toward a peace deal. Iranian officials have framed Pakistan as a mediator, while Tehran has maintained a hard line on negotiations involving the United States.
Iran’s Mehr news agency reported Araghchi is expected to return to Pakistan after completing a trip to Oman, before travelling to Russia. Part of his delegation returned to Tehran “to consult and obtain the necessary instructions on issues related to ending the war, and is scheduled to rejoin Araghchi in Islamabad on Sunday night.”
Araghchi later said Iran had shared a “workable framework” with Pakistan aimed at permanently ending the war, while also questioning Washington’s commitment to diplomacy.
The cancelled trip by Witkoff and Kushner narrows the diplomatic window at a tense stage of the conflict. The two envoys were expected to travel to Islamabad for discussions tied to the Iran war, but Trump called off the visit after Araghchi’s meetings in Pakistan failed to produce visible momentum.
Iran has denied that a formal U.S.-Iran meeting had been scheduled, according to reporting on the talks. That gap between Washington’s expectations and Tehran’s public position has added confusion to the mediation effort.
The diplomatic setback came as violence continued in southern Lebanon. Israeli attacks killed at least four people in the town of Yohmor al-Shaqif, according to Lebanon’s state news agency and health officials. The strikes hit a truck and a motorcycle in the Nabatieh district.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces retain “full freedom of action” in Lebanon, despite a three-week extension of the ceasefire with Hezbollah.
With Araghchi expected to continue regional consultations and Washington pulling back its planned Pakistan mission, the next phase of diplomacy now depends on whether mediators in Islamabad, Muscat and Moscow find enough common ground to restart serious negotiations.
