Iran’s foreign minister was back in Islamabad on Sunday reportedly hoping to work on a peace plan — while President Trump said his top aides will only participate by phone at this point because Pakistan is too far to go to again.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did the quick turnaround after leaving Pakistan’s capital without meeting with US officials Saturday, a move that prompted Trump to then swiftly cancel American negotiators’ intended return trip to Islamabad.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were expected to leave for Pakistan’s capital Saturday before being called off.
Trump on Sunday doubled down on his refusal to send the US negotiators back to Islamabad, telling Fox News that the 18-hour trip is too far to travel if Iran continues to refuse his nuclear demands.
Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP via Getty Images
“Great respect for Pakistan, because they’ve been terrific. They’ve really tried, and they’ll stay involved, but we’re going to do it by telephone, so if they want, they can call us,” Trump said of Tehran.
“But again, they know what has to be in the agreement. Very simple: they cannot have a nuclear weapon — otherwise there’s no reason to meet,” he said.
Iran has previously been willing to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons in deals, but the major hang-up is what to do with the remaining enriched uranium in Iran, Pakistani sources said.
But Iranian state media on Sunday claimed the nuclear issue was not to be discussed in meetings with Pakistani officials.
Araghchi and the Iranian delegation eventually visited Muscat in Oman, where they consulted with Omani officials — including on issues related to a potential peace proposals, sources said.
Pakistani mediators Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who met with the Iranian team before their departure Saturday, are expected to speak with Araghchi again.
Araghchi wa then headed to Moscow on Monday for additional consultations, this time with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s stance about not returning envoys to Pakistan echoed his comments Saturday as the latest round of talks broke down.
“I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going [to] Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is 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!!!” he added.
Later in the day he explained further, saying the distance was just too far to travel so frequently for something the Iranians were only going to flake out on.
“There’s no reason to wait two days, have people traveling for 16, 17 hours, and we’re not doing it that way,” Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“When they want, they can call me,” the president added.
Flying all the way to Pakistan was also “too expensive,” according to the president.
“I’m a very cost-conscious person,” he said.
The last round of negotiations with Iran were led by Vice President JD Vance and ended without a deal April 12.
That’s despite a marathon 21 hours of negotiations.
The gridlock was again centered on Iran’s ongoing refusal to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions – which is the single sticking point the White House has said it is completely unwilling to negotiate on.
“That is the core goal of the president of the United States,” Vance said of the nuclear weapons. “And that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.”