Kushner, Witkoff Head to Pakistan for Iran Peace Talks
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will travel to Pakistan on Saturday to 'hear the Iranians out,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, with Vice President JD Vance on standby and top Vance staffers already on the trip.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday carrying a written response to a U.S. peace proposal, according to two senior Iranian officials who spoke anonymously about the sensitive trip.
- Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei publicly contradicted the U.S. framing, posting on X that 'no meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the U.S.' and that 'Iran's observations would be conveyed to Pakistan.'
- The Treasury Department rolled out sanctions targeting 40 shipping firms and vessels in Iran's 'shadow fleet,' plus Chinese refiner Hengli Petrochemical Refinery, identified as one of Iran's largest crude oil customers and a major buyer from the Revolutionary Guards Corp.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ships and ports would continue 'as long as it takes' to force a deal — a blockade that Iranian leaders have made lifting a precondition for formal peace talks.
- Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said 'the time is over for negotiations with Iran's regime' and called on Trump to resume offensive strikes to 'finish destroying Iran's conventional military capabilities and eliminating any last remnants of their nuclear program.'
- Brent crude settled at $105.72 a barrel and the S&P 500 closed 0.8% higher Friday as investors positioned for a potential breakthrough, though the last U.S.-Iran negotiations were in mid-April in Islamabad and major sticking points — the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear program — remain unresolved.
Why it matters: The weekend tests whether U.S. blockade pressure plus Treasury's same-day sanctions on 40 shadow-fleet firms and Hengli can force Iran to the table — but Iran's public denial of a direct meeting, insisting Pakistan will relay positions, exposes a credibility gap. With Senator Wicker publicly urging Trump to resume strikes, the gap between the administration's diplomatic track and its own party's hawkish wing is razor-thin.
