President Donald Trump told [https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/iran-war-trump-us-ceasefire-deal-strait-hormuz-pakistan-talks-april-25] Fox News today that he had canceled the trip of White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad after it became obvious that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would not be there. Reuters, citing Pakistani government sources, reported that in fact Araghchi left Islamabad for Muscat, Oman after his meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other top Pakistani officials.
The Iranians made clear all along that there would be no meeting with the American envoys. “No meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the US. Iran’s observations would be conveyed to Pakistan,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaiel Baghaei said upon landing in Islambad last night, late afternoon Washington time yesterday. The Iranians have said repeatedly that there can be no negotiations with the U.S. as long as the blockade of Iranian ports remains in place.
This reality was not acknowledged at the White House until today. “I’ve told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18 hour flight to go there. We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing’,” Trump claimed. Until then, the White House kept the corporate news media on tenterhooks, hoping against hope for a meeting that in reality was never going to happen.
