An official close to the Iranian authorities noted that on February 17, the American delegation in Geneva, almost without stopping, went to a trilateral meeting of the United States, Ukraine and the Russian Federation immediately after negotiations with the Iranian side. Expectations for a breakthrough at the meeting designed to stop the Russian-Ukrainian war were assessed by Reuters as low.
According to the interlocutor, the dual agenda of the US team in Geneva “strengthens doubts about Washington’s sincerity in both diplomatic initiatives,” since this approach is “overloaded.”
He compared it to “an emergency department where there are two critically ill patients with one doctor who can't give enough attention to either patient.” This increases the possibility of failure, the source said.
Mohanad Haj-Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Institution's Middle East Center, said there is too much at stake in the Iran crisis for the United States to conduct diplomacy in this manner. Haj-Ali called it a “shocking reality” that the Witkoff-Kushner team “must solve all the world's problems.”
Some experts have pointed out that Kushner and Witkoff, who come from the world of Trump-linked New York real estate, do not have enough experience to stand up to negotiators such as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Russian representatives. Therefore, they “failed to cope with complex conflicts.”
Some analysts have suggested that the ability of American representatives to carry out diplomatic tasks has been weakened by Trump dismantling the government's foreign policy apparatus, firing many experienced staffers from the State Department and the US National Security Council.
Context
On December 16, 2025, the Financial Times wrote that US foreign policy during Donald Trump's second presidential term actually ended up in the hands of a narrow circle of people among his friends and relatives. Former US officials spoke to the media and noted that traditional channels of consultation and multi-level decision-making systems have disappeared, and experienced diplomats have been relegated to the background.
