Donald Trump has confirmed the cancellation of his plan to send US envoys for ceasefire talks in Pakistan, saying “too much time” has been “wasted on traveling”.
“I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going is 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,” he added. “Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said on Saturday he had spoken with the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on the evolving regional situation.
“Pakistan remains committed to serve as an honest and sincere facilitator – working tirelessly to advance durable peace and lasting stability in the region,” Sharif said in a post on social media.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally who has been openly in favor of the US war on Iran, praised the president’s decision to cancel the planned trip by US envoys to Pakistan for ceasefire talks.
“President Trump’s decision to cancel the Witkoff-Kushner visit to Pakistan to pursue further negotiations with Iran at this time was very wise,” Graham posted on X.
The senator also added that the top priority for the US should be “to establish firm control over the Strait of Hormuz”, and said that more military operations may be required to achieve this.
“When it comes to achieving that goal, US military engagement may be required in the short term. It is more than worth the risk associated with regaining freedom of navigation of the strait,” Graham said.
Iran’s joint military command issued a warning in a statement Saturday that if the US continued its “naval blockades, banditry, and piracy in the region”, Iran would respond with “powerful” military action.
The statement, carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, added that if the US and Israel renewed their aggression, the countries would face more losses.
It remains unclear whether Iran and the US will resume negotiations soon following Donald Trump’s cancellation of US envoys visiting Pakistan for ceasefire talks.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that his recent trip to Pakistan was “very fruitful” but questioned whether the US was “truly serious about diplomacy”.
“Very fruitful visit to Pakistan, whose good offices and brotherly efforts to bring back peace to our region we very much value,” he wrote on social media. “Shared Iran’s position concerning workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran. Have yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy.”
Donald Trump has confirmed the cancellation of his plan to send US envoys for ceasefire talks in Pakistan, saying “too much time” has been “wasted on traveling”.
“I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going is 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,” he added. “Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
Donald Trump has canceled the planned trip to Pakistan by envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff for peace talks with Iran, Fox News reported on Saturday.
The network said Trump told Fox about the trip’s cancellation, quoting him as saying: “We have all the cards. 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.”
Lebanon’s ministry of health announced on Saturday that the death toll from Israeli attacks has risen to 2,496, with an additional 7,725 people injured since the start of the war on 2 March.
The ministry said the total number of displaced people sheltering in evacuation centers is now more than 120,000 and the number of displaced families in these centers has reached about 31,000.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has issued a brief statement on social media following his meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.
“Had a most warm, cordial exchange of views on the current regional situation. We also discussed matters of mutual interest, including the further strengthening of Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations,” Sharif said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has killed 15 Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, despite a three-week extension of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire.
In a statement on social media, the IDF said three Hezbollah members “who were travelling in a van armed with weapons” were killed in southern Lebanon, without giving a specific location. It said it killed another Hezbollah member “who was riding a motorbike” south of what it described as the “forward defence line” (or “yellow line”), an area deep in Lebanese territory from the border with Israel occupied by IDF troops.
It is not clear whether the deaths are connected to earlier reports by Lebanese media of Israeli attacks on a lorry and a motorbike in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor al-Shaqif in the Nabatieh district, killing four people.
The IDF said two more Hezbollah members were killed in an airstrike in the Litani area, claiming they “posed a threat to IDF forces operating in southern Lebanon”.
The health ministry in Lebanon reported six people killed in Israeli airstrikes in the south yesterday.
The IDF said the 15 Hezbollah members were killed over the weekend, which runs from Friday to Saturday in Israel.
The Lebanese news outlet al-Mayadeen has reported that the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has left Islamabad after holding meetings with Pakistani officials.
It is not clear when the US delegation is due to arrive in Pakistan.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
