Latest Steve Witkoff News & Updates

Ankara, July 8 (IANS) President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared that the US military campaign against Iran had crippled Tehran’s military and nuclear capabilities, warned of more strikes if Iran attacked again, and said he had little faith in further negotiations even as his envoys remained free to continue talks. “The Iran war has been a tremendous military success,” Trump said at a news conference after the NATO summit in Ankara. “I was there for one reason — that Iran cannot have a nucle…

Ankara, July 8 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned Iran that the United States was prepared to launch further military strikes and even reimpose a naval blockade if Tehran continued its attacks, while declaring that he no longer believed negotiations over its nuclear programme were worth pursuing despite leaving the door open for his envoys to keep talking.Speaking during separate appearances with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and later Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky…

Doha, July 1 (IANS) Indirect talks between the United States and Iran are underway in Doha on Wednesday under the mediation of Qatar and Pakistan. “The talks are taking place indirectly now, with no face-to-face meetings between the two sides,” a source told Xinhua news agency. “The sessions are closed and are being facilitated by the mediators.”The source added that the discussions are focused on implementing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached in Islamabad on June 17, including issue…

Doha, June 30 (IANS) Qatar confirmed on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are in Doha but will not hold direct meetings with the Iranian officials.Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said at the weekly press briefing that the US delegation would instead meet with mediators to discuss progress in implementing the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran.Al-Ansari also noted that th…

Washington, June 24 (IANS) US Senate Democrats accused President Donald Trump of allowing foreign financial interests to intersect with US national security policy, alleging that the United Arab Emirates received a series of favourable decisions after investing heavily in the Trump family’s cryptocurrency business.A report released by Democratic staff of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, led by Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, alleges that UAE-linked officials and entities…

Washington, May 11 (IANS) US President Donald Trump sharply rejected Iran’s response to a new US proposal aimed at ending the conflict in the Gulf region, calling Tehran’s position “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE” as tensions continued around the Strait of Hormuz.“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.The remarks came hours after …

Washington, May 8 (IANS) Pakistan appears to be leveraging a web of lobbyists, intermediaries, and influential business and political figures to secure diplomatic opportunities, particularly in situations where Islamabad’s formal official channels either fail to deliver results or move too slowly, a report said on Friday. According to a report in the US-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Pakistan’s engagement with foreign powers is increasingly being characterised by some commen…

Islamabad, May 4 (IANS) Pakistan may continue to position itself as a bridge between Washington and Tehran, but such a role cannot be manufactured through publicity or driven by a desperate search for global relevance. The repeated collapse of the Islamabad talks is therefore not just a missed “diplomatic opportunity” but a serious credibility setback, a report said on Monday.According to a report in ‘Stringer Asia’, the second collapse of the much-hyped “Islamabad talks” exposes a deepe…

New York, April 25 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Saturday night cancelled his negotiators’ trip to Pakistan because of the confusion over who is in charge of Iran and the “tremendous infighting” among their leadership. After Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in Islamabad on Friday, Trump’s Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt had announced that the negotiators, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his Special Representative Steve Witkoff, would go there.She said Vice Preside…

New York, April 25 (IANS) Iran and the US appeared to be readying for communicating again, if at arm’s length and with secondary-level interlocutors, as a team from Tehran arrived in Pakistan and a US group was set to head there on Saturday. After the second round of talks that was to have taken place this week or over last weekend didn’t take off because Iran refused to join, there has been some delicate manoeuvres by Tehran to reopen contacts.As the stalemate continues, Tehran has closed the S…