US officials indirectly warned Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during negotiations earlier this year that Israel might try to assassinate them, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
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 officials in other countries across the region to warn Tehran that Israel may try to target the two men, the Times said.
Officials quoted by the Times noted 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. Israel killed other senior Iranian officials who could have negotiated with the US, including national security chief Ali Larijani and former foreign minister Kamal Kharazi.
Once a ceasefire was declared in early April and Araghchi and Ghalibaf began representing Iran’s position in ceasefire negotiations, the US officials said any attempt to kill them would have likely blown up the talks and triggered new fighting.
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.
Ghalibaf narrowly escaped being killed in Israel’s June 2025 war with Iran, and earlier this year, the Times reported. In both cases, he was rescued from the rubble of a building that was struck.
According to the report, a concrete Israeli threat against Ghalibaf emerged again while the Iranian parliament speaker was traveling back to Iran from Islamabad following talks with US Vice President JD Vance on April 12.
Iran feared an Israeli assassination attempt, sought international guarantees against one, and had Pakistani fighter jets escort the Iranian delegation from the Iranian border to Islamabad, the Times said.
But on the way back, Iranian security forces notified Ghalibaf’s plane of intelligence indicating that Israel planned to attack, two US officials told 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 in an eight-hour drive, the report said, citing Iranian officials.
(Times of Israel)
