{"id":208915,"date":"2026-04-26T13:45:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-negotiators-stay-home-after-iran-leaves-anticipated-meeting-updates-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T13:45:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:45:34","slug":"us-negotiators-stay-home-after-iran-leaves-anticipated-meeting-updates-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-negotiators-stay-home-after-iran-leaves-anticipated-meeting-updates-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"US negotiators stay home after Iran leaves anticipated meeting. Updates – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top U.S. and Iranian peace negotiators will not speak in Pakistan over the weekend,<\/strong>with President Donald Trump<\/a> telling his delegation not to make the trip after the Iranian delegation left.
Trump told Fox News\u2019 White House correspondent Aishah Hasnie on Saturday that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner will no longer go to Pakistan for talks with Iran, the news channel reported.
\u201c\u2019We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you\u2019re not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around talking about nothing,\u2019\u201d Trump told Fox News in a phone interview, according to comments read aloud on the network.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reportedly already left Islamabad, Pakistan, following talks with the country’s prime minister.
The White House confirmed the president’s remarks.
“I’ve told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18 hour flight to go there,” he said.
A spokesperson for Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi indicated earlier in the day that the Islamic republican delegation would relay their position to the Americans through Pakistani mediators.
“Araghchi will be meeting with Pakistani high-level officials in concert with their ongoing mediation & good offices for ending American imposed war of aggression and the restitution of peace in our region,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said<\/a>. “No meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the U.S. Iran’s observations would be conveyed to Pakistan.”
At issue is the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.Trump<\/a> said this week that he has no intention of lifting the blockade until Iran makes a deal to end the war.\u00a0
Iran has responded by stepping up its attacks on ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>. The country\u2019s leaders have signaled they will not enter into talks until Trump calls off the blockade.
Across the country, the average price for a gallon of gas remained above $4 Friday evening. In California, the average price was $5.90, according to GasBuddy<\/a>. Trump told Americans on Thursday to expect higher prices as the war continues.
Anthony Thompson
President Donald Trump said Saturday he canceled a planned trip to Pakistan for U.S. representatives because he believed too much time would be wasted traveling and said Iran\u2019s leadership was too divided for productive talks.
In a post on Truth Social<\/a>, Trump claimed there was confusion and infighting within Iran\u2019s leadership.
\u201cNobody knows who is in charge, including them,\u201d Trump wrote. He also said, \u201cIf they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!\u201d
Trump added that the United States holds the stronger position in any potential negotiations, writing, \u201cWe have all the cards, they have none!\u201d
The president said he \u201cgot another fresh offer 10 minutes after canceling Pakistan meeting.\u201d It was not immediately clear what the new offer involved or whether talks would be rescheduled.
Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY<\/em>
Anthony Thompson
Israel said Saturday it plans to intensify attacks on Hezbollah positions, putting fresh strain on a shaky ceasefire<\/a> with Lebanon that President Trump recently said had been extended for three more weeks, according to Reuters<\/a>.
The warning came amid renewed violence along the border. Lebanon\u2019s state news agency reported four people were killed in strikes in the country\u2019s south. Israel\u2019s military said Hezbollah launched two rockets toward northern Israel, adding that one was intercepted. No injuries were immediately reported, Reuters reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office said in a statement that the military had been ordered to “vigorously attack” Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon, though no additional details were released.
Sarah D. Wire
President Donald Trump told Fox News\u2019 White House correspondent Aishah Hasnie on Saturday that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will no longer be heading to Pakistan for\u00a0talks with Iran, the news channel reported<\/a>.
Trump said it\u2019s not worth the U.S. delegation making the 18-hour flight to Pakistan when the U.S. holds all the cards in the conflict with Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reportedly already left Islamabad, Pakistan, following talks with the country’s prime minister.
Trump told Fox News that the Iranians can call the U.S. at any time they want.
“I’ve told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18 hour flight to go there. We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing\u2019,” Trump said.
Michael Loria
The Chinese Embassy to the United States responded to the Treasury Department\u2019s move to\u00a0sanction a private Chinese oil refinery<\/a>\u00a0company by telling the U.S. to “stop politicizing trade.”
“We call on the U.S. to stop politicizing trade and sci-tech issues and using them as a weapon and a tool and stop abusing various kinds of sanctions to hit Chinese companies,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy told USA TODAY Friday evening. “China will take necessary steps to firmly safeguard the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies.”
U.S. Treasury Department officials on Friday\u00a0placed sanctions<\/a>\u00a0on Hengli Petrochemical Dalian, a major Chinese private oil company that before the war refined some 400,000 barrels of Iranian crude oil daily, experts told USA TODAY.
The embassy spokesperson added that China is interested in restoring peace to the region.
“Since the ongoing conflict in Iran broke out, China has been actively working for peace,” the spokesperson said. “Normal trade between countries should not be disrupted or harmed.”
USA TODAY previously reported Chinese officials\u00a0played a key role<\/a>\u00a0in brokering the ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
Michael Loria
A senior official at the U.S. State Department laid out the country\u2019s legal justification for the Iran war, saying the United States is involved “at the request of and in the collective self-defense of its Israeli ally.”
“Epic Fury is only the latest round of an ongoing international armed conflict with Iran,” State Department Legal Adviser Reed D. Rubinstein wrote in a\u00a0department publication<\/a>, using the White House\u2019s chosen code name for the military mission. “The United States is engaged in this conflict at the request of and in the collective self-defense of its Israeli ally, as well as in the exercise of the United States\u2019 own inherent right of self-defense.”
According to the Office of the Legal Adviser assessment, the war is in keeping with international law based on “Iran\u2019s malign aggression over decades, particularly in Iran\u2019s escalatory attacks against the United States, Israel, and others in the region for years.”
The assessment comes as\u00a0over 100 legal scholars<\/a>\u00a0signed a letter saying the U.S. decision to launch strikes on Feb. 28 that took out the country’s supreme leader and began the war violated the U.N. Charter on the use of force.\u00a0
State Department officials trace the roots of the ongoing conflict back to the Islamic Revolution in 1979 that gave rise to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The legal assessment cites numerous instances of Iran-linked terrorist attacks leading to the deaths of hundreds of Americans since 1983.\u00a0
Most recently, the assessment cites attacks by Iranian allies on U.S. targets in the Middle East, anti-Israel government rhetoric and the country\u2019s “illicit” nuclear program.<\/p>\n

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Top U.S. and Iranian peace negotiators will not speak in Pakistan over the weekend,with President Donald Trump telling his delegation not to make the trip after the Iranian delegation left.Trump told Fox News\u2019 White House correspondent Aishah Hasnie on Saturday that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner will no longer go to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208916,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-208915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}