Senior Trump administration officials Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are preparing to travel to Pakistan within days to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plan. The mission marks an attempt to revive stalled negotiations and prevent the White House from pivoting back to military pressure.
Araghchi is scheduled to land in Islamabad on Friday night for talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and Field Marshal Asim Munir. A Pakistani official confirmed that discussions with the Iranian foreign minister will center on relaunching engagement with the Trump administration, with a potential trilateral session involving U.S. representatives to be evaluated after the initial Pakistani meeting.
The diplomatic push comes as President Trump has extended a ceasefire window with Iran, but substantive progress has stalled in recent days. Without movement, the administration is prepared to explore military alternatives, making this window for negotiations time-sensitive.
Complicating the timeline is Araghchi's itinerary. After Islamabad, he plans to travel to Muscat and then Moscow, leaving the exact timing of any meeting with Witkoff and Kushner uncertain.
Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation in the previous negotiating round, will not attend the Pakistan talks. His absence reflects a parallel breakdown on the Iranian side. Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Vance's negotiating counterpart, has grown disenchanted with infighting among Iranian leadership and has discussed stepping down, according to sources briefed on the matter. It remains unclear whether Ghalibaf will continue as Iran's chief negotiator.
The U.S. has prepared for this possibility. Vance is on standby to fly to Pakistan if negotiations show signs of progress and his involvement becomes necessary. Members of his staff, including his chief of staff, will join Witkoff and Kushner on the ground and maintain phone contact with Vance to keep him informed as talks develop.
The diplomatic effort underscores the fragility of the current pause in U.S. Iran tensions. Without a breakthrough in coming days, the administration appears ready to abandon the negotiating path entirely. Both sides face pressure to show progress or risk escalation.
Author James Rodriguez: "This trip is a last-ditch scramble to salvage talks before the Trump administration abandons diplomacy for good."
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