Iran's snub as negotiator leaves talks venue before US envoys even set off

Published: 23:31, 25 April 2026 | Updated: 23:43, 25 April 2026 Donald Trump dramatically cancelled the latest round of Middle East peace negotiations after Iran appeared to snub his top envoys. The White House had previously said Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would fly to Pakistan for face–to–face talks amid hope that 'positive developments will come from this meeting'. But on a day of confusion which underlined just how far apart the two sides remain, Tehran insisted no meeting was confirmed.  Instead, its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi – who arrived in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on Friday, and was met by the country's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif – shared his country's 'views and considerations' on ending the war with Pakistani officials on Saturday. The Iranian delegation then left Pakistan just as Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner were preparing to leave Washington, prompting President Trump to haul the two men back at the last minute. Mr Trump told Fox News: 'I said, 'Nope, you're not making an 18–hour flight to go there. We have all the cards. They can call us any time they want, but you're not making any more 18–hour flights to sit around talking about nothing'.' He later posted on Truth Social: 'I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going [to] Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians. 'Too much time wasted on travelling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their 'leadership'. Jared Kushner, left, and Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy for Peace Missions in Islamabad earlier this month. Donald Trump dramatically cancelled the latest round of Middle East peace negotiations after Iran appeared to snub his top envoys Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) greeting Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (right). The Iranian delegation left Pakistan just as Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner were preparing to leave Washington '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!' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier said the US had 'certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the past couple of days', though she declined to provide further details. She added that Vice President JD Vance, who was the lead US negotiator in the first round of talks, would not be travelling to Pakistan for the time being but will remain on 'standby' in case of a breakthrough, saying Mr Vance would 'be willing to dispatch to Pakistan if we feel it's a necessary use of his time'. In a post on X, Mr Araghchi described his visit to Pakistan as 'very fruitful' and said he 'shared Iran's position concerning a workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran'. But he noted that he had 'yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy'. Iran has threatened to hit back over the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. It said if the 'siege, banditry and piracy at sea' continues in the region, the US will 'face a response' from the Iranian armed forces. Mr Trump last week extended a ceasefire with Iran for an unspecified period. But US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the US was 'locked and loaded' on Iranian infrastructure. Iran president Masoud Pezeshkian has called on his people to 'control consumption' of electricity. 'The enemies are destroying our infrastructure,' he said. 'Instead of ten lights, two lights should be turned on at home – what is wrong with that?' Meanwhile, at least four people were killed in southern Lebanon's Nabatieh district as Israel continued to defy a three–week extension of a ceasefire. The Israel Defence Forces insisted all four were members of Hezbollah 'who were driving in a vehicle loaded with weapons', adding that they 'posed a threat to the IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon'. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.