Report: The US suspected that Israel would assassinate the heads of the Iranian negotiating team

During the negotiation talks between the United States and Iran last April, an international security drama unfolded that almost ignited a widespread regional war. The New York Times reported yesterday (Thursday) that the American administration suspected in real time that Israel was planning to eliminate the two heads of the Iranian negotiating team: Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad-Bakar Kalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

The American concern about the breakdown of the talks was so heavy that Washington decided to act actively and asked various countries to deliver an urgent warning to Tehran about Israel’s intentions.

The tension reached its peak ahead of Kalibaf’s planned flight to Islamabad, where he was supposed to meet with US Vice President J.D. Vance. Security officials in Iran, who feared that Israel would take advantage of the aerial window of opportunity to carry out an assassination, refused to take any risks. In Iran, they turned to mediators from Qatar and Pakistan, demanding unequivocal guarantees that Israel would not carry out covert operations against the delegation.

To secure the sensitive air movement, Pakistani fighter jets escorted the Iranian planes from the Iranian border until they landed in Islamabad, as well as on their way back.

Despite the heavy security, the flight back to Tehran became a nerve-wracking air chase. During the flight, Iran’s security forces made urgent contact with Kalibaf’s plane and warned that targeted intelligence had been received that Israel was planning to attack the plane. According to the report, Iranian intelligence identified two Israeli fighter jets that penetrated Iran’s airspace through the western border with Iraq.

Following the immediate threat, the plane changed its course urgently. Kalibaf’s adviser confirmed the details and admitted that the plane made an emergency landing in the city of Mashhad – the closest airport to the Pakistan border. After landing, in order not to risk the air routes again, the senior Iranian delegation had to make its way back to the capital Tehran in a long overland journey that lasted about eight hours.

The current case sheds light on the level of Israeli surveillance and persecution of the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament. Three senior Iranian officials claimed to the New York Times that Kalibaf was saved from certain death and emphasized that this is not the first time.

According to them, Kalibaf was almost killed on two different occasions: both during the fighting in June 2025 and in the last war. In both of these cases, Israel attacked secret meetings of senior Iranian government officials held in a fortified underground bunker inside Mt. The officials stated that in both of these attacks, Kalibaf was rescued at the last moment from the ruins.