President Donald Trump said Saturday that there could be progress in ongoing talks with Iran, even as a planned second round of negotiations in Islamabad was called off.
Earlier in the day, Trump said he had canceled a scheduled trip by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner to Pakistan’s capital. The cancellation came the same day the meeting was expected to occur, after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Pakistan without holding direct talks with U.S. officials.
“I just canceled the trip of my representatives going to Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians. 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,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Also, we have all the cards; they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
Trump later told Fox News that sending U.S. envoys to Islamabad was unnecessary, suggesting that any further discussions with Iran could instead take place remotely.
The planned meeting in Islamabad had been part of Pakistan-led efforts to stabilize and extend a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran. However, the talks were called off after Iran’s foreign minister departed without engaging directly with U.S. officials, underscoring the continued uncertainty surrounding negotiations.
Pakistan previously hosted an initial round of talks and, at its request, the United States extended the ceasefire to give Iran time to develop a unified proposal addressing issues such as its nuclear program and regional security concerns. U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, were involved in the early stages of the negotiations.
The planned second round was intended to build on those discussions through indirect channels, with Pakistani officials acting as intermediaries between U.S. and Iranian representatives. While speaking with reporters after the cancellation, Trump stated that the Iranian negotiators responded with what he described as a “better deal.”
“They gave us a paper that should have been better. And interestingly, immediately when I canceled it, within 10 minutes, we got a new paper that was much better. They offered a lot, but not enough,” Trump said.
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple. I’ll deal with whoever runs the show, but there’s no reason to wait 2twodays, have people traveling for 16, 17 hours,” the president continued. “When they want, they can call me, we have all the cards. That whole deal is not complicated; Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
Prior to the cancellation, officials in Pakistan had expressed optimism about potential progress. Two senior Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu Agency that Islamabad was working toward a possible “breakthrough” on Iran’s nuclear program.
They said efforts were focused on facilitating “maximum understanding” between Washington and Tehran, with the aim of narrowing differences ahead of any future round of talks in the Pakistani capital.
Officials from the Trump administration have highlighted their leverage in any future negotiations. Meanwhile, Iranian representatives have consistently stated that they will not engage in direct talks under specific conditions. As of this report, there has been no announcement regarding the immediate rescheduling of in-person meetings; however, communication through alternative channels remains a possibility.
Later Saturday evening, Trump and members of his Cabinet were rushed out and evacuated on Saturday night after shots were fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Vice President JD Vance and members of Trump’s Cabinet, who were also in attendance, were also rushed out. Also among the officials in the room for this dinner was the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche. The suspect has since been identified as Cole Allen, a 31-year-old computer scientist from Torrance, California, who donated to then-Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign in 2024.