Meanwhile, Tehran also doesn’t seem to be in a hurry. This comes as the White House has also indicated it is willing to settle in for the long term on the conflict with Iran.
US President Donald Trump canceled the trip of envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan over the weekend. Trump appeared to indicate that he felt the long flight would be a waste of time.
There wasn’t a deal to be had yet. "We have all the cards; they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call,” Trump wrote.
Meanwhile, Tehran also doesn’t seem to be in a hurry. This comes as the White House has also indicated it is willing to settle in for the long term on the conflict with Iran.
Currently, the conflict is on hiatus. There is a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and also a US blockade of the blockade. The sense of impending economic doom from these blockades appears to have been reduced. Nevertheless, the expectation is that there will be long-term effects and challenges due to the continuing tensions.
The White House believes that the Iranian government is divided with infighting and that it may not be capable of making a real deal. This problem has already manifested itself in the Gulf after the ceasefire deal. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had made it seem like the Strait of Hormuz was open. Then the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps slammed the foreign minister.
Trump had spoken about holding off on the Kushner-Witkoff trip prior to the president leaving Florida for Washington. “Nobody knows who is in charge, including them… If they want to talk, all they have to do is call,” he also wrote.
“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. 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,” Trump said, according to Fox News.
Trump Iran war comments draw scrutiny in Middle East
The US decision-making is being watched closely in the Middle East. This also comes as Arab News in Saudi Arabia reported that “US President Donald Trump said Saturday a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner would not deter him from the Iran war, although he believed the incident was unlikely linked to the conflict.”
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he is "yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy.” Araghchi had been in Pakistan cooling his heels and waiting to see if the Americans would come. When it was clear they would not, he left. Islamabad has sought to host the talks for an Iran deal and keep the ceasefire going.
Over the last week, there have been a lot of on-again, off-again rumors about whether talks would continue. Of interest is the fact that Iran had previously signaled it didn’t trust Kushner and Witkoff.
This was because Iran felt the US hadn’t been serious about talks in February and that the US had basically used the talks to prepare for a pre-planned attack on Iran. Iran had indicated it felt that Kushner and Witkoff were too close to Israel’s position. Iran seemed more eager to speak with US Vice-President JD Vance.
However, when he went to Pakistan earlier in April, Iran didn’t seem to be up for a deal. The US believes Iran is simply too divided internally.
Araghchi met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other high-ranking officials during his time in Islamabad.
Now, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson has said that the Iranian foreign minister went to Oman for a visit.
Oman had been the host of the Iran talks in 2025 and early 2026. It also felt it was used for these talks both times, while the US planned attacks on Iran even as the talks were being held. Oman has tried to be neutral, but it has not been happy with how things turned out.
Iran claims that it continues to place great importance on its relations with Gulf states. These are the same states it attacked over the last two months. Oman is clearly an important partner for Iran, and Oman was only on the receiving end of a few attacks. Iran concentrated its attacks on the UAE.
Iran’s foreign minister will apparently return to Pakistan and then go to Russia. This is part of Iran’s outreach. The country is trying to recover its global clout after the conflict.
Meanwhile, US Central Command said that it had intercepted a vessel. A US Navy helicopter from guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney intercepted the vessel M/V Sevan. “M/V Sevan was among 19 ‘shadow fleet’ vessels sanctioned by the US Department of Treasury for activities related to transporting billions of dollars worth of Iranian energy, oil, and gas products, including propane and butane, to foreign markets.”
The US military says that “US forces continue to enforce US sanctions and fully implement the blockade against ships entering or departing Iranian ports. 37 vessels have been redirected since the start of the blockade.”