As the weekend of April 18 approached, the US and Iran appeared to be closing in on a deal to end what at the time was a seven-week war.
Pakistani mediators had spent days in Iran trying to push them closer to a compromise. I received several messages from sources on Friday, April 17, telling me to prepare for a second round of in- person talks as soon as that weekend.
But then President Trump started doing exactly what his staffers hoped he’d avoid: He started negotiating via the press, claiming in a series of social media posts and phone interviews with reporters that Iran had agreed to a host of provisions that my sources told me had not yet been finalized.
Trump then proclaimed that in-person talks were set to take place, but that Vice President Vance would not be attending.
That was news to administration officials I had been talking to all weekend, who maintained Vance was, in fact, planning to go. Later that day, the White House sent me a statement confirming Vance was traveling to Pakistan for the talks, in addition to Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
“Things changed,” one White House official told me.
Things continued to shift over the next 48 hours, as Trump kept contradicting what his own team was planning.
On Monday, April 20, Trump told the New York Post that Vance was already on his way to Pakistan when in fact he was still in Washington. Then the next day, with Air Force Two idling on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews and several reporters having already left for Pakistan, news broke that the trip was on hold.
We later learned the Iranians had essentially gone radio silent and refused to commit to sending their officials to Pakistan for the meeting. Hours later, a frustrated Trump declared a ceasefire, arguing the Iranians were divided over a path forward and that more time was needed.
Just days later, plans for in-person talks were back on. This time, Trump would send only Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan.
The Iranians claimed they had no intention of meeting with US officials, despite the White House publicly confirming the meeting was on. By Saturday, April 25, the plans for in-person talks were called off, once again.
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