US President Donald Trump has cancelled plans to send American envoys to Pakistan for ceasefire talks with Iran, declaring the trip a “waste of time” amid mounting confusion over negotiations.
The decision came less than 24 hours after the White House indicated senior officials would travel to Islamabad for discussions.
Trump later confirmed he had pulled the plug at the last minute.
“I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going to Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“Too much time wasted on travelling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them,” he added.
“Also, we have all the cards; they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said he stopped the delegation from making the long-haul journey, arguing it would not have achieved anything.
“I’ve told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18-hour flight to go there. We have all the cards,” he said.
“They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around talking about nothing’.”
The trip had been expected to include US envoys meeting Iranian representatives in Pakistan, which has been acting as a mediator, but Iran had already denied any direct talks would take place.
A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry said, “No meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the US. Iran’s observations would be conveyed to Pakistan.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, had travelled to Islamabad to meet Pakistani officials, but left without any sign of a breakthrough following talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior figures.
Trump later told reporters aboard Air Force One that Iran had presented a proposal he deemed insufficient, saying it “offered a lot but not enough”.
“They gave us a paper that should have been better, and interestingly, immediately, when I cancelled it, within 10 minutes, we got a new paper that was much better,” he said.
He did not provide details of the revised proposal, but reiterated a key US condition, saying Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon”.
Sharif said Pakistan would continue to act as a facilitator between the two sides.
“Pakistan remains committed to serve as an honest and sincere facilitator, working tirelessly to advance durable peace and lasting stability in the region,” he said.
Political scientist Professor Simon Jackson told Sunrise on Sunday Trump was likely right to cancel the trip, with no clear sign direct negotiations were ever on the table.
“It looked like going to talk to the Pakistanis about what the Iranians had just said to the Pakistanis,” he explained.
Jackson said neither side appears ready to back down, pointing to the growing economic pressure on both fronts.
“Most estimates are Iran is losing half a billion dollars US a day from its oil exports being blocked. The US consumer is paying a lot more than that every day, as are we, as is the rest of the world.”
He said Iran may be deliberately dragging out negotiations, drawing on lessons from previous conflicts.
“Iran has no incentive to end this soon, to inflict more political pain on Donald Trump with the midterms in the US approach,” he said.
“The other thing that Iran has learned is they can hold the world hostage, if you like, by controlling the Strait of Hormuz.”
The cancellation marks another setback for efforts to secure a ceasefire, with conflicting signals from both sides raising further doubt over whether direct negotiations will proceed in the near term.
