Vice President JD Vance, special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Trump‘s son-in-law, will be traveling to Islamabad for talks with Iran, sources familiar told CBS News.
The trio are expected to arrive Monday evening for talks on Tuesday. The two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States is set to expire Tuesday.
The US-Iran negotiations are set to begin in Islamabad on April 10. Iran’s delegation will be led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, while the US team will include Vice President JD Vance, advisor Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, confirmed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Not only is it contentious in itself, what remains even more contentious is the fact that no one seems to agree about what everyone agreed about, or didn’t agree about,” Pinfold told Al Jazeera.
“We don’t know what Iran agreed to, we don’t know what both sides think they agreed to,” he added, noting the further complication that various parties which were either attacked or involved in the fighting were not represented.
Iran says they have 10 points. The US says it has 15 points. The problem here is a dilemma that there is no single document that anyone can refer to for what both sides are going to discuss.
Pakistan‘s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the United States, Iran and their allies had agreed to a ceasefire „everywhere“, including Lebanon, following mediation by his government to stop weeks of fighting.
„I am pleased to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY,“ Sharif posted on X.
The Iranian Supreme National Security Council stated that Tehran has sent a ten-point proposal to Washington through Pakistan, which will form the basis of the upcoming talks.
US media outlets, including CNN, reported that the Trump administration is preparing to engage with Iranian officials in Islamabad.
Key American representatives in the discussions may include Vice President J.D. Vance, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff. Vance, currently in Hungary, may adjust his schedule to participate in the Islamabad meeting. Pakistani mediators are also expected to play a role in facilitating the talks.
The Justice Department has released 3 million new files about deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. Among those documents is an explosive allegation from an FBI informant: that President Donald Trump is compromised by Israel.
Headline USA can reveal the FBI informant’s identity: Charles Johnson, a controversial figure with a long history in the right-wing movement. Though the report in the Epstein files is redacted, Headline USA has independently obtained a separate FBI report featuring allegations made by Johnson when he was an FBI informant. The two reports are from the same field office, contain similar details, and have the same source ID: 00099701.
A declassified FBI memo released on 30 January states that US President Donald Trump was “compromised by Israel,” that Jeffrey Epstein was a Mossad agent, and that a Jewish religious movement, Chabad Lubavitch, had coopted Trump’s presidency.
The FBI memo was written in 2020 as part of an investigation into improper domestic or foreign influence over the US electoral process.
It is based on information from a confidential human source (CHS) for the bureau and is among more than three million Epstein-related files released by the Justice Department on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he held talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war.
Zelenskyy sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In a readout provided by Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy said that a „lot of progress was made“ during the meeting, without providing details.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Zelensky signaled that Ukraine seeks NATO-like security guarantees as part of a peace deal to prevent future Russian aggression, as full membership is opposed by the U.S. and other partners.
Ahead of the meeting, Axios reported, citing a senior U.S. official, that the Trump administration may be willing to provide Congress-approved NATO-like security guarantees.
Today, 10:34 am
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and top White House advisor Jared Kushner land in Israel, the US Embassy tells The Times of Israel.
Their visit is part of a concerted US push to keep the fledgling ceasefire in Gaza from fraying further, a day after two IDF troops were killed in a Hamas attack and Israel responded with airstrikes across the Strip.
US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, on Saturday said he visited Gaza alongside Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, “to verify Israel’s compliance with Phase I of the [Gaza ceasefire] agreement”.
Witkoff, in a statement, said that he was also accompanied by CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office publishes photos of the premier alongside US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as they participate in the full cabinet meeting where ministers are due to vote on the first phase of Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.
As chair of the “transitional” body, Trump would oversee the framework and funding for redevelopment of the Gaza Strip until a time when the Palestinian Authority, the governing body in the West Bank, has met conditions to assume governance in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military would slowly scale back its presence.
“This body will call on best international standards to create modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment,” according to the plan.
The draft for the so-called Gaza International Transitional Authority (Gita) puts substantial flesh on reporting of the ideas that Blair and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are reported to have been circulating, including that Blair “wants” the role of running Gaza.
Palestinian critics who have seen the proposal – and who have long viewed Blair with suspicion – warned that Gita would be a “disaster” for Palestine, creating an alternative jurisdiction in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Citing Puck, The Times of Israel reported that Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, helped prepare the shock remarks the president made on Tuesday night during his press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Kushner, who has a long history of friendship with Netanyahu, served as an advisor to President Trump during his first term in office and was involved in negotiating the Abraham Accords, the deals that sought Israel’s regional integration without settling the issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
(August 11, 2023)
During his tenure in the Trump administration, Kushner was tasked with managing Middle East policy, resulting in him building a relationship with Saudi Arabia‘s Crown Prince and leading efforts to create the Abraham Accords, which established Israel‘s diplomatic relations initially with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, and later with Morocco and Sudan.
(August 11, 2023)
“I’ve been vocal that I think that what Kushner did crossed the line of ethics,” Comer said on CNN when asked to respond to Christie’s claim. “What Christie said — it happened after he left office. Still no excuse, Jake, but it happened after he left office.
Kushner hopes to mend the divide between Qatar and other Gulf nations, according to the Journal, which noted that his visit follows U.S.-brokered pacts between Israel and Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. White House aide Avi Berkowitz, who was heavily involved in brokering the earlier deals, will accompany Kushner, the newspaper reported, adding that the negotiations will primarily involve Saudi-Qatari relations.
White House adviser Jared Kushner will travel to Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week, seeking to broker more diplomatic pacts in the Middle East in the Trump administration’s final days, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Gantz is also expected to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other Pentagon officials in Washington on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said Monday.
Gantz is also set to discuss international policy vis-à-vis Iran and strategy for stopping its expansion and entrenchment in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also attended part of the meeting with the visiting Kushner.
„The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary were clear about their commitment to a negotiated two-state solution,” the spokesman said.
The first official flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) landed Monday in Abu Dhabi, carrying an Israeli-American delegation to advance the landmark peace agreement between the two Middle Eastern states.
Leading the historic occasion, special White House advisor Jared Kushner addressed reporters at the airport promptly after landing, as Arab media televised the event under the title “Message of Peace.”
Kushner, O’Brien, US Special Representative for International Negotiations Avi Berkowitz and US Iran envoy Brian Hook, together with an Israeli delegation led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, are set to take the first-ever direct flight from Israel to the UAE on Monday, on an El Al plane bearing the word “peace” in Arabic, Hebrew and English in honor of the historic moment.
(13.08.2020)
According to Israeli media, the US president will be joined by senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, the architect of the US Middle East peace plan; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; National Security Adviser Richard O’Brien; lead negotiator Avi Berkowitz; and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who will reportedly fly back to Washington on Sunday following tête-à-têtes with Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz.