Iranian officials told Vice President JD Vance that President Donald Trump’s lead negotiators, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, were exploiting their role for financial gain.
Drop Site News reported on Wednesday, speaking with an Iranian official who explained the message was conveyed to Vance during a meeting in June. They additionally warned the Vice President that Kushner was leaking information to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Iranian officials added that it was not the first message relayed to the White House that Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and Witkoff, Trump’s envoy, had a destructive role in negotiations. “Even before the Islamabad talks kicked off [in April], we had already sent multiple messages to Trump through the Pakistanis, warning them about [Witkoff’s] overall destructive role in the previous negotiation,” the source told Drop Site News.
The White House denied the report. “A message of this nature was never conveyed to the Vice President or his team,” A US official told Drop Site News. “Additionally, any insinuation that the other members of the president’s trusted negotiating team are operating under motives other than serving the president and delivering on his mission is false.”
The White House also issued a statement attacking Drop Site News. “It’s sad that Drop Site News ‘reporters’ are so filled with hate for America and devoid of respect for themselves that they have become full-throated propagandists for the Iranian regime,” it said.
President Trump has frequently flip-flopped between doubling down on conflict and seeking a negotiated settlement. The lack of a stable policy has led to wild swings in the oil market. Iran claims that people have raked in over $9 billion trading the oil market during the war, and is demanding half of the money.
Kushner and Witkoff led the US talks with Iran before the war started in February. Following the talks, a UK observer said he was “surprised” at the concession that Iran was offering. Nuclear experts who spoke with MS Now explained that Kushner and Witkoff lacked technical expertise in nuclear matters and did not bring in experts to the talks. This led Washington to misunderstand the significance of Tehran’s concessions.
