By Mark Osborne
Updated on: April 25, 2026 / 1:28 PM EDT / CBS News
President Trump said Saturday he called off plans for U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to travel to Pakistan for talks with Iran, blaming lost time and uncertainty about Iran’s leadership and declaring, “we have all the cards.”
“I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going [to] Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
The White House had said Friday that Kushner and Witkoff would travel to Islamabad for “direct talks” aimed at a lasting peace deal more than 50 days after the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Islamabad Friday and Saturday and met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif before departing for Oman. Pakistan has been serving as an intermediary for discussions between Iran and the U.S.
The conflict has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for about one-fifth of the world’s oil, contributing to higher oil prices and pushing U.S. inflation to its highest level in nearly two years.
A U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and vessels remains in place. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday the blockade will stay “as long as it takes,” signaling the administration is not rushing a peace deal and echoing Trump’s comments that the U.S. controls the timeline for Operation Epic Fury.
In Iran, President Masoud Pezeshkian urged citizens to reduce electricity use after U.S.- and Israeli-linked strikes damaged energy infrastructure, telling people to limit lighting at home, The Associated Press reported.