US Indirectly Warned Iran During Talks That Israel Might Try to Kill Its Top Negotiators

The New York Times reported, citing current and former US officials, that Washington grew concerned Israel might use the US-Iran ceasefire talks beginning in April as an opportunity to kill Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf 1234. US officials reportedly asked other Middle Eastern countries to warn Iran of the danger to the two men and, separately, asked Israel directly not to target Ghalibaf after learning he remained on an Israeli list despite an earlier removal reported by the Wall Street Journal in March 34. During an April trip to Islamabad for talks with Vice President JD Vance, Pakistani fighter jets escorted Ghalibaf's delegation to and from the meeting. On the return leg, Iranian security forces told the plane they had intelligence that two Israeli fighter jets had entered Iranian airspace from Iraq intending to attack it, prompting an emergency landing in Mashhad and a roughly eight-hour overland return to Tehran 34. Israel had already killed two other Iranian officials involved in contacts with the US, Ali Larijani and Kamal Kharazi, earlier in the war 34. The Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment to the Times, and a US official said talks with Iran were continuing 4.