After days of stalemate, the United States has confirmed that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Pakistan on Saturday for a fresh round of talks with Iran.

The announcement was made by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who told Fox News that the two would engage directly with representatives from the Iranian delegation.

She emphasised that the Iranians themselves had reached out, responding to President Donald Trump’s call for dialogue, and requested this in-person meeting.

Leavitt explained that while Witkoff and Kushner would be the first to head to Islamabad, others remained on standby to fly out if necessary. Their immediate task would be to assess the situation and report back to President Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Witkoff, the US Special Envoy to the Middle East, and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had already played central roles in the first round of talks held in Pakistan on 11 and 12 April.

Notably absent from this second round will be Vice President JD Vance and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian negotiating team during the earlier discussions.

Their absence marks a shift in the composition of the delegations, even as momentum builds for renewed engagement.

The development coincides with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announcing a “timely tour” to Pakistan, Oman, and Russia. He described the purpose of his visits as coordinating with partners on bilateral matters and consulting on regional developments, stressing that neighbours remained Iran’s priority. His statement was shared publicly on X.

The talks are taking place against the backdrop of hardened positions. Iran had previously declared that it would not participate in negotiations until the United States lifted its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington, for its part, demanded verifiable assurances that Tehran would end its nuclear programme and remove its own blockade of the strait. These conditions remain central to the diplomatic impasse.

At a Pentagon briefing on Friday, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth reiterated Trump’s stance that the United States was not in a hurry to secure a deal. He said the president had made clear that America “had all the time in the world and we are not anxious for a deal”.

Hegseth added that Iran now had the opportunity to make what he described as a “good deal, a wise deal”.

Agencies