Some seemingly small investments can yield huge returns. For Steve Witkoff, then a corporate lawyer, it was just a sandwich he offered his client Donald Trump in 1986. At the time, Trump was embroiled in one of the many lawsuits that have marked his real estate career. Cash-strapped, as is often the case with the ultra-rich, Trump accepted his lawyer's invitation.
Years later, he remembered the gesture. Witkoff, who had since moved into real estate, built a lasting friendship and strong partnership with Trump, fueled by their shared passion for golf. The two even founded their own golf clubs in Florida, not far from each other.
It was during a round of golf with Witkoff that Trump survived an assassination attempt on September 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Two months later, the Republican candidate, newly elected to a second term as president, announced that Witkoff would become his special envoy for the Middle East.
Unpleasant ignorance
The announcement stunned Washington, where Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law (and his Middle East envoy during his first term), was widely expected to be reappointed. Witkoff's complete lack of diplomatic experience also prompted much speculation. However, the new envoy co-chaired the organization of Trump's return to the White House on January 20, 2025.
A few days later, the Israeli army escorted him to the Gaza Strip, where a fragile ceasefire was then in effect. The scale of the destruction he saw did not shock him; on the contrary, it convinced him that the Palestinian enclave could be rebuilt as a spectacular and profitable real estate project. He inspired Trump with the idea of turning Gaza into a “Middle Eastern Riviera” - even if it meant displacing the local population. The US president values his envoy so much that he has repeatedly sent him to Vladimir Putin, entrusting him with the task of ending what Trump called “Biden’s war” in Ukraine.
Although Vitkoff's pro-Israel bias was no longer in question in the US, his tendency to echo the Kremlin's positions aroused suspicion. Namely, between two presidential meetings in Moscow, Vitkoff's main contact was Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, who offered him tempting investment opportunities.
Promoted to “special envoy for peace missions,” Witkoff naturally landed seats on both committees of the “Peace Council” that Trump formed in February—one dedicated to Gaza, the other global. The workload was such that Kushner now joined him, both in the Middle East and in Europe, while when the two weren’t traveling, they hosted foreign delegations at Witkoff’s golf club, transforming Florida into a new hub for international relations.
However, it was in Oman, and then in Switzerland, that Witkoff held talks with Iran, displaying shameful ignorance on the nuclear issue. Oman's mediation enabled a diplomatic breakthrough on this sensitive issue, although it did not prevent Trump from launching a coordinated offensive with Israel against Iran on February 28.
Trump's favorite negotiator has been more successful in boosting his own business than in promoting peace. In 2025 alone, he increased his fortune by about $300 million, bringing his estimated net worth to $2 billion. Much of that income came from crypto startup World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which Witkoff and Trump founded with their sons in September 2024.
The brother of the president of the United Arab Emirates invested $2 billion in WLFI in May 2025, just as the US lifted export restrictions on hundreds of thousands of cutting-edge electronic chips used in artificial intelligence to the Emirates. Zach Witkoff, the younger son of Steve Witkoff, has visited Pakistan twice to promote WLFI. During both visits to Islamabad, he was received by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and in January he signed a framework agreement with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
As for Envoy Witkoff, he also found time to monitor the reconstruction of the Roosevelt Hotel, owned by the Pakistani government, in the heart of Manhattan. On the sidelines of the inaugural meeting of the Peace Council, he attended the signing of the US-Pakistan agreement on the hotel, together with Sharif and Aurangzeb.
While Trump and his administration have institutionalized such border blurring, the Pakistan-related work of Witkoff and his son has taken on added significance when the US chose Pakistan to negotiate with Iran. While Oman has a long tradition of mediation in the Middle East, Pakistan has recently been in open conflict with both India and Afghanistan.
Sharif announced a two-week ceasefire on the night of Tuesday, April 7, and Wednesday, April 8, that would include Lebanon, but Israel immediately denied it. The White House confirmed that the ceasefire did not apply to Lebanon, where the Israeli military resumed attacks on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, indignant, called Israel “a curse on humanity,” and his government did not contradict him. However, this probably did not mean much to Witkoff, who was already sent to Islamabad on Saturday, April 11, accompanied by Kushner. However, on this occasion, the American delegation was led by Vice President Vance. In the meantime, business was running smoothly. While Witkoff’s fortune grew by 15 percent in 2025, Kushner’s increased by almost 30 percent.
The author is a historian and professor at Sciences Po in Paris.
The text is taken from Mondo
Translation: NB
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