Trump’s team feared Israel wanted to kill Iranian negotiators to derail US-Iran talks: Report

The Donald Trump administration feared that Israel wanted to kill principal Iranian negotiators —Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi— to derail US-Iran talks, according to The New York Times.

While it had previously been reported that the Trump administration intervened at the request of intermediaries to press Israel to remove Ghalibaf and Araghchi from its target list, the extent of concerns among American, Pakistani, Qatari, and Iranian officials —as well as Israel's intial disregard for the Trump administration's directive— is new information.

The Times reported that Israel went ahead with at least one attempt to assassinate Ghalibaf and Araghchi, but the plan was foiled.

The development reveals deep divisions between Israel and the Trump administration over the war with Iran. While Trump has sought a face-saving deal to exit the conflict for months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed to continue military operations in Iran and Lebanon as a permanent end to the war could be politically devastating for him at home — particularly given that he has failed to achieve even a single objective for which he or Trump launched the war.

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How Israel planned to derail US-Iran talks — and how Pakistan and the US foiled it

While the Trump administration was aware of Israel's strategy of targeting senior Iranian leaders, officials became increasingly concerned after the United States and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in April that an Israeli strike on Ghalibaf and Araghchi could derail talks, according to The Times.

Officials told the newspaper that the Trump administration warned Iran about possible Israeli attacks through countries in the region.

The concerns were such that Iran feared Israel could strike Ghalibaf and Araghchi during their journey to Islamabad for talks with the American delegation led by Vice President JD Vance. The visit went ahead only after Iran secured guarantees from the United States through Qatar and Pakistan.

But these guarantees were not enough.

The Times reported that fears were so high that Pakistan deployed fighter jets to escort the Iranian aircraft carrying Ghalibaf and Araghchi from the Iranian border to Islamabad. But sources said Israel proceeded with the plan anyway.

Two officials told the newspaper that Iran obtained intelligence indicating that Israel planned to attack the aircraft after it left the Pakistani airspace and that two Israeli fighter jets had entered Iranian airspace from the country's western border near Iraq.

To foil the Israeli plot, the Iranian aircraft made an emergency landing in Mashhad, Iran's closest airport to the Pakistani border, and the Iranian delegation travelled to Tehran by road over the next eight hours.

Eventually, it appears that the Trump administration managed to rein in Netanyahu as Ghalibaf and Araghchi have continued travelling across the region for talks with mediators and American officials.