President Donald Trump cancelled the planned trip of U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad on Saturday, April 25, 2026, halting what was expected to be the second formal round of U.S.-Iran peace talks before it could begin. The cancellation came less than 24 hours after the White House had announced the envoys would travel to Pakistan for direct discussions with the Iranian delegation.
The cancellation followed mixed signals from Tehran about whether Iranian officials were prepared to engage substantively with U.S. demands. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had arrived in Islamabad on Friday night and met with Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir on Saturday, but Iran did not confirm any direct meeting with U.S. officials would take place.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian by phone on Saturday night for approximately 50 minutes. According to Sharif’s office, the two leaders had a “detailed exchange of views on the current regional situation and ongoing efforts to promote peace and stability in the region,” though no specific terms were disclosed.
The cancellation marks the second time in two weeks that direct U.S.-Iran talks have failed to materialize. The first round, conducted between Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in mid-April, ran for 21 hours but ended without agreement. The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports was imposed shortly afterward, and remains in place.
Pakistan’s mediating role has continued through the cancellation. Sharif and Munir have remained in continuous contact with both Tehran and Washington, and Pakistan’s information ministry confirmed that the country remains prepared to host talks “at a moment’s notice” if both sides agree to engage. The phone call between Sharif and Pezeshkian suggests the back-channel mediation effort is ongoing despite the formal trip cancellation.
Markets are expected to react sharply to the failed weekend diplomacy when trading resumes Monday. Friday’s closes — WTI at $94.70 and Brent at $104.40 — were already higher on the week despite Friday’s pullback on initial trip announcements. With the trip now cancelled, analysts expect the geopolitical risk premium to reassert itself in early-week trading. For live market tracking, see our oil price dashboard and the geopolitics risk dashboard.