America’s outsider peace duo faces biggest test in trio of hotspots

Witkoff and Kushner. It sounds like an elite law firm, a 1970s cop show or even a duo of visionary architects, since they hope to turn battlefields into futuristic cityscapes. But Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are running President Donald Trump’s freelance peacekeeping franchise, on which global stability, countless lives and their boss’s best hope … The post America’s outsider peace duo faces biggest test in trio of hotspots appeared first on Egypt Independent. Presidential Office of Ukraine/Sipa USA/File Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Witkoff and Kushner. It sounds like an elite law firm, a 1970s cop show or even a duo of visionary architects, since they hope to turn battlefields into futuristic cityscapes. But Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are running President Donald Trump’s freelance peacekeeping franchise, on which global stability, countless lives and their boss’s best hope of that elusive Nobel Peace Prize depend. The pair were in the thick of it Tuesday, on an extraordinary double-barreled day of diplomacy in Geneva, huddling with Russian, Ukrainian and Iranian officials. They’re expected back in Washington this week for a meeting of the Board of Peace — Trump’s personal big-dollar private global diplomacy network. The two super-rich, well-connected American dealmakers are charged with ending one vicious war and preventing one that might be about to erupt. Success in either case would be a huge achievement, but both goals seem intractable. Trump’s hopes for a deal with Iran, as he masses a vast armada within shooting distance, only crawled forward Tuesday. The Iranians touted an understanding on “guiding principles.” But Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that while things “went well” in some ways, Tehran won’t acknowledge some of Trump’s red lines. A US delegation led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on a day of talks between delegates from Ukraine, Russia and the US in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 17. Press service of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine/Reuters The first of two days of talks between Ukraine and Russia also highlighted a big potential roadblock: the question of whether Moscow really wants to end the fighting or is only playing at diplomacy to buy time for battlefield wins. Still, talks are taking place. Given global skepticism about the prospects for agreements and of the Witkoff and Kushner double act, this is an achievement in itself and a mark of Trump’s desire to work for peace. Three global disputes with deepening implications Smoke and flames rise over destroyed buildings following an Israeli attack near the Askula Intersection in al-Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City on February 6. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images Witkoff and Kushner’s latest efforts come at a perilous moment for the world and a politically tenuous one for Trump’s presidency. ► Their biggest win so far — the ceasefire in Gaza — is fragile amid renewed fighting. The transition to the disarmament of Hamas still seems like a pipe dream. A possible renewal of full-scale war would worsen the misery of Palestinian civilians and again threaten Israeli security. ► At the same time, the Ukraine war is grinding through another winter, amid battlefield carnage and Russian attacks on defenseless civilians. The longer the war goes on, the greater the risk that it spills over into a NATO-Russia conflict. Maybe no one can end the war. But Trump probably has a better chance than anyone. ► The president, meanwhile, is getting inexorably dragged closer to a war with Iran that he may have to fight to save face and protect his own credibility. But polls show Americans don’t want it. Each separate negotiation risks running into the same brick wall — the parties’ refusal to compromise on issues they see as existential to national survival or honor. For President Vladimir Putin, this means fighting on at least until he seizes the reminder of the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region on which he’s already spent tens of thousands of Russian lives. The government in Kyiv cannot cede the region — as the Trump administration apparently wants — because of its own massive casualties and because it forms fortifications vital to the defense of the capital. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other vessels sail in formation in the Arabian Sea on February 6, 2026. Petty Officer 1st Class Jesse Mo/US Navy Iran has its own potential deal-breakers. While it’s ready to discuss concessions on a nuclear program already shattered by US attacks last year, Tehran is refusing to bargain away its ballistic missile program and regional proxy networks, which it views as crucial to the survival of the Islamic revolutionary regime. Trump sometimes appears willing to take any deal to celebrate clinching it. But he’d lose face if he inks an agreement that offers Tehran sanctions relief and looks like the Obama-era nuclear pact he destroyed. He said on Friday that regime change “would be the best thing that could happen.” But if he tries to force it, he may unleash regional, political and economic consequences he can neither predict nor control. “If the parties want a limited and achievable agreement, they’re going to have a deal,” Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, told CNN’s Becky Anderson on Monday. “If they want to go for overreach, they’re going to have a war.” How the double act might work Witkoff and Kushner might be unorthodox. Bu