Trump, Yatkov and Kushner's envoys to Pakistan are expected to hold talks with Araqchi

CNN, citing US administration officials, reported that President Donald Trump made the decision to send special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi this weekend. U.S. officials have made it clear that Vice President J.D. Vance will not participate in these talks for the time being, due to a lack of participation Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf at the meetings. The White House considers Qalibaf the appropriate protocol counterpart for the US Vice President. The sources pointed out that Vice President Vance will remain fully prepared to go to Islamabad in the event that the negotiations make tangible progress, while elements of his office will be on the site to follow the developments of the talks closely. For their part, Pakistani government sources confirmed the arrival of the Iranian Foreign Minister Araqchi is in Islamabad to discuss proposals to resume peace talks with the United States, although there are no scheduled meetings with US negotiators according to these sources. It should be noted that the Pakistani capital has previously hosted talks between Washington and Tehran to end the war, but these talks collapsed earlier. Iranian state media announced that Araqchi had begun a diplomatic tour that included visits to Islamabad, Muscat and Moscow. In this Context, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stressed that Tehran has a golden opportunity to reach a "good deal" with Washington, stressing the need for Iran to abandon nuclear weapons in concrete and verifiable ways as a prerequisite for progress in the talks.