Steve Witkoff

Force in Play

Leading peace talks with Russia on behalf of Trump administration

On December 28, President Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced 90% agreement on a revised 20-point peace framework at Mar-a-Lago. The next day Russia claimed Ukraine attacked Putin's residence with drones—a charge Kyiv denies, calling it fabricated to sabotage talks. The alleged attack exposes how fragile negotiations are: while diplomats inch toward compromise, the shadow war continues and Moscow weaponizes accusations to 'toughen' its bargaining position. The real question after nearly four years of invasion is whether either side will stop fighting long enough to sign a deal.

Updated 1 hour ago

Rule Changes

Leading negotiations with Ukraine and Russia on the U.S. proposal

Zelensky just did something he once treated as untouchable: he offered to drop Ukraine's NATO bid. Not as surrender, but as a trade—Kyiv gives up the alliance path, and the West gives Ukraine legally binding protection strong enough to scare Moscow off for good.

Updated Yesterday

Built World

Traveling to Berlin to align a U.S.-backed proposal with Kyiv and Europe

Ukrainian officials say more than 450 drones and about 30 missiles hit energy and port infrastructure overnight. Odesa and surrounding areas went dark.

Updated Yesterday

Force in Play

Co‑author and shuttle diplomat for the U.S. peace framework

In early 2025, Trump launched an aggressive push to "end the war" in Ukraine. He tied resumed military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv's acceptance of a U.S.-drafted peace framework that includes territorial concessions to Russia and long-term limits on Ukraine's sovereignty.

Updated 6 days ago

Force in Play

Lead U.S. negotiator coordinating parallel tracks with Russia and Ukraine; reporting progress to Trump

By late December 2025, the controversial 28-point plan was replaced by a revised 20-point framework. Zelenskyy said it was '90 percent agreed' with Washington, with '100 percent' consensus on U.S.–Ukraine security guarantees.

Updated 6 days ago

Force in Play

Trump’s principal negotiator with the Kremlin on the peace framework

In late 2025, U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg said a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was "really, really close." Two disputes remain: the fate of Donbas, especially Ukrainian-held areas in Donetsk, and the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (Russia-occupied and the largest in Europe).

Updated 6 days ago

Force in Play

Trump's point person for implementing the Gaza ceasefire and political plan; announced phase two launch

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel triggered a war that lasted more than two years. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect October 10, 2025. At least 460 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,200 injured since the truce began.

Updated 6 days ago

Rule Changes

Participated in Islamabad talks April 11–12 alongside VP Vance and Kushner; criticized by current and former diplomats as lacking technical depth for nuclear negotiations; maintains direct message contact with Araghchi

Diplomatic efforts to constrain Iran's nuclear program collapsed into open war on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on Iran—codenamed Operation Epic Fury and Operation Roaring Lion—targeting military infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and senior leadership. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the strikes; his son Mojtaba Khamenei was elected by the Assembly of Experts as the new Supreme Leader on March 8, but has not appeared publicly since, reportedly recovering from injuries sustained in the same strike that killed his father. Iran retaliated across the region and closed the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which roughly 20 percent of world oil trade flows. A ceasefire brokered by Pakistan took effect on April 8, under which Iran agreed to reopen the Strait—though Iran re-closed it on April 18 after the United States refused to lift a naval blockade imposed following failed peace talks.

Updated Apr 20

Force in Play

Leading US diplomatic track; credibility questioned by some diplomats

Forty days ago, the United States and Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and triggered the largest disruption to global oil markets since the 1970s. After over 7,300 deaths and Brent crude spiking above $126 per barrel from Iran's Strait of Hormuz closure, Iran's Supreme National Security Council ratified a two-week ceasefire on April 8 — minutes before President Trump's 8 p.m. deadline to strike Iranian infrastructure. The deal mandates safe passage through the strait with Iranian coordination, halting Operation Epic Fury.

Updated Apr 8

Force in Play

Concluded failed negotiations before strikes began

For four decades, the United States and Iran avoided direct, large-scale war. That changed on February 28, 2026, when the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, and leadership compounds, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The assault followed collapsed indirect nuclear talks mediated by Oman. Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on US bases in the Gulf, oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Embassy in Riyadh.

Updated Mar 4

Rule Changes

Leading diplomatic outreach for Board of Peace membership

The United Nations has served as the primary venue for international conflict resolution since 1945. On January 22, 2026, President Trump launched an alternative: the Board of Peace, a body he chairs for life, where permanent membership costs $1 billion and he alone holds veto power over all decisions. Nearly a month ago on February 19, member states pledged $5 billion toward Gaza reconstruction and thousands of personnel for security forces at the inaugural meeting held at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington.

Updated Feb 19

Force in Play

Leading U.S. peace negotiation efforts

Russia continues massive winter strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians amid advancing trilateral peace talks. A week after the February 4-5 Abu Dhabi round yielded a 314-POW exchange and US-Russia military dialogue, Russia launched major attacks including 408 drones/39 missiles on February 6-7 targeting energy substations and the February 13 assault with 219 drones/24 missiles killing one in Odesa. Zelenskyy accused Russia of bad faith while confirming a third round of talks for next week.

Updated Feb 13

Rule Changes

Leading American negotiating team in Iran talks

Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington this week with a single message: any deal with Iran must go beyond uranium. After three hours in the Oval Office on February 11, President Trump emerged saying 'nothing definitive' was reached—but negotiations would continue. Netanyahu signed onto Trump's Board of Peace initiative and extracted a promise of continued talks, though Iran insists its ballistic missiles remain off the table.

Updated Feb 11

Force in Play

Leading U.S. peace mediation efforts

Russia began systematically targeting Ukraine's power grid in October 2022. By early February 2026, after a brief U.S.-brokered pause ended on February 2, Russia launched its largest energy strikes of the year—over 70 missiles and 450 drones—hitting thermal plants in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa regions amid temperatures near -20°C, leaving over 1,000 Kyiv buildings without heat and power; strikes continued with a massive February 6-7 barrage (39 missiles, 408 drones) damaging DTEK plants (10th attack since October) and substations critical to nuclear power, blacking out 600,000 in Lviv.

Updated Feb 11

Rule Changes

Actively brokering peace talks between Russia and Ukraine

The United States and Russia agreed on February 5, 2026, to reestablish high-level military communication that had been suspended since fall 2021. The channel gives General Alexus Grynkewich, commander of U.S. European Command, a direct line to General Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia's General Staff—restoring a mechanism designed to prevent miscalculation between two nuclear-armed militaries operating in proximity across Europe, the Arctic, and the Black Sea.

Updated Feb 6

Force in Play

Leading Phase 2 implementation of Gaza peace plan

Israel recovered the remains of Ran Gvili on January 26, 2026, ending the 843-day hostage crisis that began with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack. Prime Minister Netanyahu declared in the Knesset on January 27 that 'There are no more hostages in Gaza.' The Hostages and Missing Families Forum halted activities after this closure.

Updated Feb 5

Force in Play

In active communication with Iranian Foreign Minister

Iran's nationwide uprising, which began when Tehran's bazaaris marched on December 28, 2025, was crushed through what may be the deadliest massacre in the Islamic Republic's history. While early reports during the internet blackout confirmed 572 deaths, evidence emerging after partial internet restoration in late January reveals at least 6,126 people killed according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency—with some estimates ranging from 12,000 to over 36,500. Most deaths occurred during a 48-hour period on January 8-9 when Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Basij forces opened fire on protesters across all 31 provinces. On January 17, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly acknowledged 'several thousand' people had been killed, while President Trump called him a 'sick man' and declared 'it's time to look for new leadership in Iran.' Over 42,000 have been detained, with at least 52 executions already carried out and the judiciary threatening swift trials for thousands more under 'mohareb' (enemy of God) charges.

Updated Jan 31

Rule Changes

Announced Phase Two launch

Hamas has governed Gaza since June 2007. On January 15, 2026, a 15-member committee of Palestinian technocrats—none affiliated with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority—held its first meeting in Cairo. The next day, President Trump announced the Board of Peace's executive membership: himself as chair, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and others. By January 17, the arrangement had triggered a rare public dispute with Israel—Netanyahu's office declared the Board's composition "was not coordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy."

Updated Jan 18

Force in Play

Leading phase two ceasefire negotiations

A severe winter storm killed at least 8 Palestinians in Gaza on January 13, 2026, collapsing war-damaged walls onto tent camps and freezing children to death overnight. The dead include a 7-day-old infant, a 1-year-old boy, and a 4-year-old girl who died of hypothermia—the latest in at least 23 cold-weather deaths since winter began. Over 1.1 million people remain in urgent need of shelter assistance as 81% of Gaza's structures have been destroyed or damaged.

Updated Jan 16