American officials were worried that Israel was plotting to kill Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the parliament, during ceasefire negotiations in April.
The NYT reports.
Fearful that an Israeli assassination effort would doom the negotiations, the United States, according to some of the officials, went so far as to ask other countries in the region to warn Iran about the possibility Israel could target the two officials.
The NYT report also says that the war started with an Israeli strike that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others. It said Israel was intent on killing as many high-ranking officials as possible in the early stages of the war including "pragmatic" leaders that Trump hoped to negotiate with.
The report also offers this detail, which might help to explain the lack of trust from Iran's leadership:
Ghalibaf was nearly killed in both the 12-day war in June 2025 and again in this year’s conflict, when Israel targeted a secret meeting of senior government officials in a bunker under a mountain, according to three senior Iranian officials and public comments by officials. In both incidents, Mr. Ghalibaf was rescued from under the rubble, the officials said.
Further fears of assassination have slowed talks and led to lengthy security protocols.
