Donald Trump Sends U.S. Delegation to Pakistan for Iran Talks, Threatens Power Plants and Bridges

President Donald Trump said Sunday that U.S. representatives are returning to Pakistan for negotiations to end the war with Iran, while renewing threats of broad attacks on Iran’s infrastructure if no deal is reached.

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In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”

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The White House said Sunday that Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will attend the talks in Pakistan, with the meetings in Islamabad “Tuesday possibly into Wednesday,” Trump told The Washington Post.

Trump also said the ceasefire is set to expire Wednesday, and the Guardian reported that the talks would come before a fragile two-week ceasefire expires on Wednesday.

The Guardian further reported that Trump said any talks in Islamabad were the “last chance” for Iran to agree to a peace deal and quoted him telling Fox News, “If Iran does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up.”

NBC News described the same diplomatic push as faltering diplomacy between the two sides, with Trump accusing Iran of violating the ceasefire after attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.

Across the reporting, the core timeline converged on a second round of talks in Islamabad and a Wednesday ceasefire deadline, with the question of whether Tehran would participate remaining unresolved in multiple accounts.

The renewed threats and the push for talks were framed in the sources around a ceasefire that was already under strain, with Iran reimposing restrictions on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the United States maintaining a naval blockade.

The Guardian reported that Iran on Saturday reimposed tight restrictions on the transit of commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz, reversing an agreement made hours before to reopen the strategic waterway, over the US’s refusal to lift its naval blockade.

ABC News

The Washington Post said Trump celebrated the reopening of the strait on Friday and predicted progress toward a deal would go “quickly,” while noting that Iran’s effective closure of the strait left about 20,000 seafarers stranded on idle ships and spiked oil prices.

NBC News said Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire with Strait of Hormuz ship attacks and described Iran reimposing an effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, citing a continued U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, “just one day after declaring the waterway “completely open” under the current ceasefire.”

The Guardian also reported that the war was entering its eighth week and that it had killed thousands in Iran and Lebanon while sending oil prices surging because of the strait’s closure.

In the Washington Post account, Iranian state media reported Sunday that Tehran had “rejected” the second round of talks, attributing the “absence” to “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire.”

NBC News added that Iran’s state-run IRNA denied reports of a second round of negotiations in Islamabad, saying there is “no clear prospect” for talks under current conditions and citing the continued naval blockade as a violation of the ceasefire.

Multiple sources named the U.S. delegation and tied it to the threat posture and the diplomatic messaging around the Strait of Hormuz.

The Washington Post reported that the White House said Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will attend the talks in Pakistan, and it said the meetings in Islamabad will be “Tuesday possibly into Wednesday,” as Trump told the paper.

The Guardian similarly described the return to Islamabad led by vice-president JD Vance, along with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and it reported that Pakistan’s foreign affairs ministry said Mohammad Ishaq Dar spoke with Abbas Araghchi during a phone call about “the need for continued dialogue and engagement as essential to resolving the current issues as soon as possible for promoting the peace and stability in the region and beyond.”

NBC News said two senior administration officials told NBC News Sunday that Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to travel to Islamabad to continue negotiations with Iran, and it described Trump’s own accusation that Iran attacked ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

In parallel, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz defended Trump’s threat, telling ABC News’ “This Week” that “all options are on the table” and arguing that infrastructure used for dual military and civilian purposes is a lawful target.

Waltz told Jonathan Karl that “We could take that infrastructure out relatively easily,” and he compared the escalation to World War II when pressed about war crimes.

Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna pushed back on ABC News, saying, “They’ve escalated to devastation,” and he criticized the administration for not focusing on domestic issues, telling Karl, “Why aren’t we addressing the needs of the American people?”

The sources also included Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who in the Guardian’s account said “there will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy,” while acknowledging a wide gap remained between the sides.

While the core facts of a threatened strike on Iran’s power plants and bridges and a new round of talks in Pakistan appear across the coverage, the sources frame the situation differently in emphasis and tone.

The Washington Post centers on Trump’s threats alongside uncertainty about whether Tehran agreed to send representatives, saying Iranian state media reported Sunday that Tehran had “rejected” the second round of talks and that the “absence” was due to “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade.”

Al Jazeera

The Guardian, by contrast, emphasizes the diplomatic sequence and the “last chance” framing, reporting that Trump said talks in Islamabad were the “last chance” for Iran to agree to a peace deal and quoting him telling Fox News, “If Iran does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up.”

NBC News highlights the accusation-and-response cycle, stating that Trump posted on Truth Social, “Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!” and describing Iran’s denial of a second round of negotiations by saying IRNA reported there is “no clear prospect” for talks under current conditions.

ABC News focuses on the legal and ethical defense of the threat, with Mike Waltz telling Jonathan Karl that “all options are on the table” and later comparing the escalation to World War II when asked about war crimes, while Ro Khanna counters that the administration is escalating to “devestation.”

The Independent foregrounds the “whole country is going to get blown up” line, quoting Trump telling Fox News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst, “If they don't sign this deal, the whole country is going to get blown up,” and it also describes confusion over whether Vance would attend.

The Times of Israel adds a different lens by quoting an Israeli official who said, “If we put Trump’s statements into ChatGPT, ‘it will implode,’” and it reports that Israel has prepared a series of Iranian targets to hit if talks do collapse.

The sources portray immediate stakes tied to the Wednesday ceasefire deadline, the Strait of Hormuz’s status, and the possibility of strikes on Iran’s infrastructure.

The Guardian reported that the war was entering its eighth week and that it had killed thousands in Iran and Lebanon while sending oil prices surging because of the strait’s closure, and it said the talks would come before a fragile two-week ceasefire expires on Wednesday.

Al-Jazeera Net

The Washington Post said the ceasefire is set to expire Wednesday and described how the strait reopening on Friday brought hope for an end to the war, while also stating that Iranian state media reported Tehran had “rejected” the second round of talks.

NBC News said the current two-week ceasefire set to end on Wednesday and described how Trump convened a Cabinet meeting in the situation room Saturday morning to discuss the Strait of Hormuz and the situation in Iran.

In the ABC News interview, Mike Waltz framed the threat as diplomacy paired with military capability, saying Trump was putting “diplomacy first” and that “all options are on the table,” while Ro Khanna warned that the administration was escalating to “devestation.”

The Guardian also reported that Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said “there will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy,” while acknowledging a wide gap remained, and it included Iran’s position that the strait’s closure was perhaps its most powerful weapon.

The Washington Post added that the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC News that the outcome of the talks would be “incredibly consequential,” and it quoted Waltz saying, “he is prepared to escalate, to de-escalate. He is prepared to actually board and turn around Iranian ships even as far east as the Pacific Ocean.”

The Independent described the ceasefire clock as a “two-week ceasefire” set to expire Tuesday if a deal is not reached, adding another deadline framing to the same broader countdown.