During talks on ending war, US indirectly warned Iran that Israel might try to kill its top negotiators — NYT report

US officials indirectly warned Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf that Israel may try to target them in assassination attempts, while they were engaged in negotiations with Washington to end the war earlier this year, The New York Times reports.

The report, which cites current and former US officials, alleges that some officials believed Israel may have been planning to kill the top Iranian negotiators in the weeks following the April 8 ceasefire that halted fighting in the US-Israel war with Iran.

In light of those concerns, the US officials asked their counterparts across the region to warn Tehran that Israel may try to target the two men.

Officials quoted by the Times note that when the war began on February 28, and as Israel worked its way through killing much of Iran’s senior leadership, both Araghchi and Ghalibaf could have been legitimate targets.

But once a ceasefire was declared in early April and the two men were selected to represent Iran’s position in ceasefire negotiations, the officials say any attempt to kill them would have likely blown up the talks and triggered new fighting.

According to the report, a concrete Israeli threat against Ghalibaf emerged while the Iranian parliament speaker was traveling back to Iran from Islamabad following talks with US Vice President JD Vance on April 12.

Iranian security forces notified Ghalibaf’s plane of intelligence indicating that Israel planned to attack the plane, two US officials tell the Times, and that two Israeli fighter jets had entered Iran’s airspace from Iraq. The plane made an emergency landing in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, and Ghalibaf and the rest of his delegation returned to Tehran by land, the report says.

In March, while fighting was still ongoing, a Pakistani official told Reuters that Israel had taken both Araghchi and Ghalibaf off its hit list after Pakistan requested that Washington not target them.

At the time, the official said Islamabad had warned the US that if either or both of the men were killed, there would be “no one else to talk to” about negotiating a ceasefire. “Hence, the US asked the Israelis to back off,” the official added.