Steve Witkoff walks to an interview after assembly with Russian officers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP
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Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP
President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is in Oman on Saturday for nuclear talks with Iran‘s international minister, a day after talks in Moscow to attempt to dealer a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to finish the battle in Ukraine.
Witkoff — whose background is in New York actual property — has additionally been the lead participant in making an attempt to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
Managing talks concerning the three conflicts can be an enormous portfolio for probably the most veteran of diplomats. However that is Witkoff’s first foray into worldwide diplomacy — and that has frightened coverage specialists within the subject.
“My concern is and I believe the priority of a lot of others is that the president and Mr. Witkoff see Iran nuclear negotiations or a ceasefire settlement in Gaza as similar to a negotiating actual property deal. And so they’re very, very totally different,” mentioned Steven Cook dinner, a senior fellow for the Center East on the Council on International Relations.
Trump and Witkoff have a protracted friendship
Witkoff and the president have been buddies for nearly 40 years. Trump calls Witkoff “a particular man” and “my pal.” Their friendship dates again to an opportunity encounter at a New York Deli at 3 a.m.
Trump had no money on him. “I ordered him a ham and swiss,” Witkoff mentioned, in keeping with a report in Courthouse Information about his testimony in Trump’s protection throughout considered one of Trump’s trials final yr.
President Trump gestures to Steve Witkoff whereas signing an govt order to create a U.S. sovereign wealth fund on Feb. 3, 2025.
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Jim Watson/AFP
Witkoff mentioned in an interview with Tucker Carlson that he discovered the actual property enterprise from Trump.
“I needed to be him,” Witkoff mentioned. “Everyone needed to be him. He’d come to 101 Park Avenue, the place I used to be a lawyer. He had this swashbuckling model. I used to see him are available in and I used to say, ‘God, I wish to be him.'”
Witkoff has described how Trump was there for him when considered one of his sons died from an opioid overdose in 2011.
“I’ve seen his humanity within the quiet moments away from the highlight in hospital rooms he did not need to be in — the place his presence introduced actual solace in a darkish hour for my household,” Witkoff mentioned on the Republican Nationwide Conference.
In the course of the marketing campaign, Witkoff helped with fundraising. Trump additionally turned to Witkoff to deal with delicate issues like making an attempt to restore ties with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and presidential challenger Nikki Haley.
“His finest buddy, Steve Witkoff, got here to our home in South Carolina, spoke to me and my husband, and principally needed a truce between me and Donald Trump,” Haley mentioned on her podcast. She informed Witkoff that Trump had her help.
Selecting Witkoff for a task his son-in-law used to fill
As soon as in workplace, Trump picked his outdated buddy as his envoy to the Center East. It was the identical place that Trump — in his first time period — had given to a different individual whose loyalty was unquestioned: his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Kushner, who now runs an funding agency, had additionally come from the actual property world and dealt with many robust recordsdata for Trump, together with Center East peace, commerce talks with Mexico and Canada, immigration reform, and components of the administration’s response to the COVID pandemic.
In President Trump’s first time period, his son-in-law Jared Kushner held the function now crammed by Steve Witkoff. Kushner and Witkoff appeared collectively on Feb. 20 at a Miami convention organized by the non-profit arm of Saudi Arabia’s foremost sovereign wealth fund known as the Future Funding Initiative (FII) Institute.
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Joe Raedle/Getty Photographs
Numerous specialists scoffed at Kushner’s lack of expertise when he began his White Home function, and a few are elevating the identical questions on Witkoff.
Aaron David Miller, a former State division negotiator in each Democratic and Republican administrations, has been a part of quite a few Arab-Israel talks. He acknowledges the challenges and says they misplaced greater than they received.
He mentioned the three conflicts Witkoff is tasked with are “galactic challenges” the place the complexities and variations between these concerned are “as broad because the Grand Canyon.”
“I imply, you may’t do that stuff on the again of a cocktail serviette,” mentioned Miller who’s now on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace.
“I believe it is very laborious to activity one particular person — as gifted as he could also be — and make him the envoy for every thing,” Miller mentioned.
How Witkoff describes his method to negotiations
The White Home says Witkoff is a trusted buddy of the president who left behind an enormous enterprise enterprise to serve the nation. He would not take a wage and pays for his personal journey.
“His outcomes converse for themselves, together with the launch of Marc Fogel from Russia and hostages trapped in Gaza,” mentioned spokeswoman Anna Kelly. “The president is extremely happy with all Mr. Witkoff has achieved to assist restore peace by means of energy, and he’ll proceed to leverage Mr. Witkoff’s skills to advance his America First international coverage imaginative and prescient.”
Witkoff fueled some criticism not too long ago after showing on Tucker Carlson’s podcast when he described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “not a foul man.”
French President Emmanuel Macron shakes palms with Secretary of State Marco Rubio as Steve Witkoff appears on earlier than a gathering concerning the battle in Ukraine on April 17, 2025 in Paris.
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Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP
Within the interview, Witkoff defined his method to negotiations. “There isn’t any doubt I am at all times making an attempt to place myself within the footwear of the opposite individual as a result of a superb deal has to work truthful for everyone,” he mentioned.
Don Peebles mentioned he has seen that perspective first-hand throughout adversarial talks with Witkoff. “If I have been going to summarize his method is to search out what the opposite individual, different aspect, needs — and to attempt to give it to him,” mentioned Peebles, an actual property developer who fundraised for former President Barack Obama.
Peebles mentioned he thinks Witkoff in all probability has extra excessive stakes negotiating expertise than most diplomats.
He remembers being compelled to cope with Witkoff on a giant actual property transaction in New York. Peebles thought of strolling away. He felt like he had a gun to his head, however by no means by Witkoff.
Witkoff defused the state of affairs, promising to not be disruptive and defined how they might each be higher off as companions, Peebles recalled.
“He took a really adversarial state of affairs from my perspective and never solely received the deal completed, however we have been buddies ever since.”
