Foreign Policy Experts Give Kushner and Witkoff 'An F in Diplomacy' as Iran Talks Face Scrutiny

Foreign policy experts are raising doubts about the Trump administration's ability to secure a deal with Iran, with some assigning top negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff what one former U.S. official called "an F in diplomacy," according to a new sprawling report from TIME.

The criticism comes after high-level negotiations in Islamabad ended without an agreement, despite more than 20 hours of discussions between U.S. and Iranian officials. The talks, led by Vice President JD Vance and supported by Kushner and Witkoff, marked the most direct engagement between the two countries in decades but failed to bridge key differences over Iran's nuclear program and regional demands.

Former diplomats and analysts cited by TIME argue that the lack of progress reflects deeper concerns about the experience and approach of the U.S. negotiating team. Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East negotiator who served under multiple administrations, said the pair's track record across several conflicts has been underwhelming. "Iran and the U.S. under Kushner and Witkoff? Failure. They get an F in diplomacy," he said.

Other experts pointed to structural shortcomings in the U.S. approach. David Satterfield, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, warned that the chances of reaching an agreement would diminish without clearly defined objectives. "Not only does the U.S. need to make clear what its goals were... but to have a realistic sense of what the other side was bringing with it," he said

A White House official told TIME that Kushner and Witkoff remain part of the team alongside Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and will continue participating in discussions. But scrutiny has intensified as talks move forward with major sticking points unresolved, including the duration of limits on uranium enrichment and the handling of existing stockpiles.

A recent op-ed by Jonathan Guyer in The New York Times argued that Kushner and Witkoff's business-first approach has not translated into effective diplomacy. "I think peace is not that different than business," Kushner said at a conference cited in the piece, a view critics say oversimplifies the realities of geopolitical negotiations.

Criticism has also come from lawmakers. Senator Mark Kelly said earlier this month that "you can't send the two real estate developers to negotiate a peace with another region," reflecting broader concerns about the administration's reliance on nontraditional envoys.