Evidence has emerged that Israel sought to assassinate senior Iranian delegates who took part in talks to end the war between Iran and the United States. The United States was said to have passed related information to Iran through mediators, fearing the talks could fall apart.
On the 2nd (local time), the New York Times (NYT), citing current and former officials in the United States and the Middle East, reported that Israel had targeted for assassination Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, and Abbas Araghchi, the Foreign Minister.
The two are key figures in the Iranian delegation participating in the end-of-war talks with the United States. They are also among the few members of Iran's leadership who have survived Israel's successive assassination operations.
The United States judged that if the two were assassinated as the talks gained momentum, dialogue would stop and the Middle East situation could deteriorate again. The NYT said Washington therefore asked friendly countries in the region to convey to Iran the possibility of Israeli assassinations.
Earlier, in Feb., as the war with Iran intensified, the United States had learned that Israel had added Speaker Ghalibaf and Minister Araghchi to its assassination list. But once talks began, Washington was said to have feared that attacks targeting them could derail the negotiations themselves.
A U.S. official told the NYT that contact between the two delegations is continuing, and that President Donald Trump is maintaining the stance that he wants the peace process to proceed. The Israeli Embassy in Washington did not respond to the NYT's request for comment.
Iran also prepared for the possibility of assassinations while the talks were underway. According to the NYT, before Speaker Ghalibaf visited Islamabad, Pakistan, the mediator of the talks, in Apr., Iran was concerned Israel might attempt an assassination while the delegation was in transit. It was reported to have requested security guarantees for the delegation from the United States through Pakistan and Qatar.
At the time, the Pakistan Air Force escorted the aircraft carrying about 70 members of the delegation from the border to Islamabad, and deployed fighter jets again for the return flight after the talks ended.
But tensions persisted during the return. Iran's military informed the delegation that it had received intelligence suggesting the aircraft carrying Speaker Ghalibaf could be targeted by Israel. A warning was also conveyed that two Israeli fighter jets were approaching Iranian airspace via Iraq.
In the end, the aircraft carrying the delegation could not head to Tehran and made an emergency landing at Mashhad Airport in northeastern Iran. The delegation then traveled by land for about eight hours to return to Tehran.
Speaker Ghalibaf and Minister Araghchi continued negotiations with the United States afterward. In Jun., the two held a second face-to-face meeting in Switzerland with the U.S. delegation, which included Vice President J.D. Vance, and carried out follow-up talks on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end the war.