The New York Times reported that U.S. officials believed the Zionist regime had planned to assassinate senior Iranian negotiators during the spring of this year while Washington was engaged in sensitive negotiations with Tehran to reach a temporary peace agreement.
According to the report, killing senior Iranian leaders had been part of the Zionist regime’s strategy since the beginning of the war. However, U.S. concerns intensified during the sensitive ceasefire negotiations that began in April over the possible targeting of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
The report said the United States feared that an assassination attempt by the Zionist regime would derail the negotiations. As a result, Washington went so far as to ask several countries in the region to warn Iran that the two senior officials could be targeted.
U.S. officials acknowledged that during the most intense phase of the war, Araghchi and Ghalibaf, as senior government officials, could have been considered legitimate military targets by the Zionist regime, which was seeking to overthrow the Iranian government.
However, once serious negotiations began in April, U.S. officials believed that any attempt to kill senior Iranian leaders would bring the talks to an end and reignite the conflict.