US officials feared Israel would assassinate Iranian negotiators

The assassination of senior Iranian leaders was part of Israel’s strategy from the beginning of the war.

However, U.S. concern over the attack on two Iranian officials in particular —Abbas Araghchi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibafspeaker of Parliament—increased considerably during delicate ceasefire negotiations that began in April.

Fearing that an assassination attempt by Israel would jeopardize the negotiations, the United States, according to some officials, went so far as to ask other countries in the region to warn Iran about the possibility that Israel could attack the two officials.

American officials acknowledged that, during the most intense phase of the war, Araghchi and Ghalibaf, as senior government officials, could have been legitimate goals for Israelwhich sought to overthrow Iran’s hardline government.

However, after the formal start of the talks In April, US officials believed that any attempt to assassinate Iranian leaders would end talks and reignite fighting.

The war began on February 28 with an Israeli attack that killed the supreme leader, the Ayatollah. Ali Khameneiand other senior officials, based in part on US intelligence information.

While US attacks focused on Iran’s navy and missile forces, Israel prioritized attacking the leadership leadership in the initial phase of the war, with the intention of killing as many senior officials as possible.

This included the assassination of potentially more pragmatic leaders with whom the Trump administration hoped to negotiate, such as Ali LarijaniIran’s top national security official, and Kamal Kharazi, former Iranian foreign minister.

Both were involved in negotiations with the United States when they were killed in Israeli airstrikes.

The Trump administration’s suspicions about a possible Israeli plot to assassinate the two main negotiators demonstrate how the war objectives of the United States and Israel, which coincided at the beginning of the conflict, quickly radically diverged.

And while the United States wanted a peace deal, Israel has been skeptical since the initial cessation of hostilities in April.

The initial two-week ceasefire in April was met with reluctant support from Israeli authorities and widespread public concern in Israel that the United States was ending the war. too soon.

Far from being driven from power, Iran’s theocratic government had become even more intransigent, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had only consolidated its control over the country.

Araghchi and Ghalibaf have been the key officials in negotiations with several countries in the region to achieve a ceasefire and, subsequently, a more lasting peace with the United States.

In June, the United States and Iran reached a framework agreement that sought to open the Strait of Hormuz and lay the groundwork for future talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Israeli officials and analysts considered the initial agreement a disaster, as it did not achieve their country’s war goals:

force a regime change, destroy Iran’s allied forces, and severely damage its missile program.

Israeli officials were also concerned that the deal would pump billions of dollars into Iran, allowing it to quickly rebuild after the war without significantly curtailing its nuclear ambitions.

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment.

When asked about the Israeli plans and the warning to Iran, a US official said that talks between the US and Iranian delegations continue and that Steve Witkoffspecial envoy, and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of the president, held productive meetings in Qatar.

The official added that the president Donald Trump wants the peace process to continue.

The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Israel had Araghchi and Ghalibaf on a target list but temporarily withdrew them while the United States discussed starting negotiations with Iran.

A U.S. and a Middle Eastern official said the Trump administration learned around that time that at least Ghalibaf was on a list of Israeli targets and asked Israel to refrain from attacking him.

Ghalibaf was nearly killed in both the 12-day war in June 2025 and this year’s conflict, when Israel attacked a secret meeting of senior government officials in a bunker under a mountain, according to three senior Iranian officials and public statements by officials.

In both incidents, Ghalibaf was rescued from the rubble, officials said.

“Today, Mr. Ghalibaf, Mr. Araghchi and other members of the negotiating team have risked their lives, aware of the serious risks to their security, and this is called a real sacrifice, not a political maneuver,” Mohsen Zanganeh, a lawmaker, told local media in late April after the meeting in Islamabad.

During the negotiations, Iran has taken precautions aimed at making it more difficult for Israel to attack senior officials.

In April, Ghalibaf was scheduled to travel to Islamabad to meet with the vice president JD Vance.

However, Iranian security officials feared that Israel would take the opportunity to assassinate Ghalibaf or Araghchi to sabotage the talks, the officials said.

According to the officials, the Iranians sought assurances from the United States, through Pakistani and Qatari intermediaries, that Israel would not carry out any covert operations against the Iranian delegation.

Pakistani fighter jets escorted Iranian planes carrying a delegation of more than 70 Iranians from the Iran border to Islamabad and back once the session is over.

But on the way back to Tehran, a threat to Israeli security emerged.

Iranian security forces notified the plane carrying Ghalibaf back to Tehran that they had received intelligence indicating that Israel was planning to attack the plane and that two Israeli fighter jets had entered Iranian airspace from its western border near Iraq, the two officials said.

Mahdi Mohammadi, Ghalibaf’s senior advisor, who accompanied him to Islamabad, confirmed this version on his social networks.

The plane made an emergency landing in the city of Mashhad, the Iranian airport closest to the border with Pakistan, and the Iranian delegation traveled about eight hours by land back to Tehran, Mohammadi and the two officials said.

But officials have continued traveling.

In late May, Ghalibaf and Araghchi flew to Qatar for talks, and then in June they traveled to Switzerland for a second in-person meeting with Vance and the U.S. delegation.