BREAKING: WH confirms Witkoff, Kushner to head to Pakistan on Saturday

Amid tumultuous negotiations with Iran, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will head to Pakistan for peace talks

by Summer Lane | April 24, 2026

Amid on-again-off-again talks with Iran, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday that U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (the president’s son-in-law and a “Peace Envoy”) will return to Pakistan for potential talks with Iran.

“I can confirm Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be off to Pakistan tomorrow morning to engage in talks, direct talks, intermediated by the Pakistanis who have been incredible friends and mediators throughout this entire process,” she told Fox News.

She also said that the Iranians asked for these in-person talks.

“The Iranians reached out as the president called on them to do, and asked for this in-person conversation, so the president is dispatching Steve and Jared to go hear what they have to say, and we’re hopeful that it will be a productive conversation and hopefully move the ball forward towards a deal,” she continued.

Earlier this week, a delegation, led by Vice President J.D. Vance, was expected to dispatch to Islamabad for talks, but that trip was canceled amid tense negotiations with Iran. Ultimately, President Trump moved to extend a tenuous ceasefire agreement with Iran, bluntly noting that dispersed Iranian leadership was in chaos.

He commented on Truth Social on Thursday, “Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know! The infighting is between the ‘Hardliners,’ who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY!”

While speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Leavitt said, “The Iranians want to talk. They want to talk in person, and so the president is, as I’ve said many, many times to all of you, always willing to give diplomacy a chance…we hope progress will be made, and we hope that positive developments will come from this meeting.”