In a plot twist that nobody saw coming - except perhaps everyone who has been following this administration's foreign policy whiplash - Donald Trump has cancelled a planned diplomatic mission to Pakistan just hours after it was announced, according to reporting by The Guardian.
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the White House's dynamic duo of informal diplomacy, were set to fly to Islamabad to try and breathe life back into stalled ceasefire negotiations with Iran. The mission was confirmed by the White House as recently as Friday. Then, on Saturday evening, Iran's top diplomat boarded a plane and left Islamabad. Shortly after that, Trump told Fox News - where all serious geopolitical decisions are apparently announced these days - that he had told his envoys to stay home.
"They can call us anytime they want." - Donald Trump, per The Guardian
Bold strategy, chief.
What was actually going on here?
The broader context is that the US and Iran have been in an awkward diplomatic tango over a potential nuclear deal and ceasefire framework. Pakistan, a country with its own complicated relationship with both the US and Iran, was apparently going to serve as the neutral venue for the next round of talks.
The timing of Tehran's envoy departing before the American team even landed does raise some eyebrows. Whether that departure was the reason Trump pulled the plug, or simply a coincidence, has not been confirmed in the source reporting.
So where does this leave things?
Technically, nowhere new. The negotiations were already described as needing to be "revived," which is diplomatic code for "they were going pretty badly." Now the US position appears to be a very confident-sounding "the phone lines are open" - which is either a power move or a shrug dressed up as a power move. Possibly both.
What is confirmed is this: a diplomatic trip was announced, then cancelled within roughly 24 hours, and the US president communicated the update via a cable news interview rather than, say, a formal diplomatic communique. Which, at this point, tracks completely.
Iran has not publicly responded to the invitation to "just call," and nobody should be shocked if they don't rush to the phone.
