US Warns Iran of Israeli Plans to Assassinate Abbas Araghchi and Mohammad Ghalibaf

Senior American officials have revealed deep concerns that Israel intends to assassinate Iran’s top negotiators, a move Washington fears would sabotage the Trump administration’s high-stakes pursuit of a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Washington’s objections to the potential killings of Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf are particularly acute. This spring, the US took the extraordinary step of asking intermediaries to warn Iran about the Israeli assassination targets. “If you kill these people, you kill the pragmatists,” said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Washington views Araghchi and Ghalibaf as key figures with whom it can negotiate. Since March, as the Trump administration began exploring diplomatic options, US officials have asked their Israeli counterparts to halt the assassinations of Iran’s political leadership. However, the US need to warn Iran directly indicates a rift and the limits of Trump’s influence over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official, assessed that this demonstrates a divergence in the war objectives between the two allies. “It shows the fundamental determination of the Israeli prime minister to undermine any negotiation that the US might conclude,” Miller said. The rift became more apparent after Israel assassinated top Iranian national security official Ali Larijani in mid-March. A Western official described Larijani’s killing as a turning point because the US lost a primary contact for negotiations. In recent months, Araghchi and Ghalibaf have been the main contacts for US officials in securing a ceasefire in April and a framework agreement to end the war in June. However, the deal was heavily criticised by Israel and the pro-Israel lobby in Washington for closing the door on regime change and instead offering Iran economic sanctions relief. President Donald Trump publicly stated that Israel’s assassination campaign was complicating diplomatic efforts. “They’re wiping out everybody. I don’t want them killed,” Trump told reporters in March. The assassination attempts targeting Ghalibaf and Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, have sparked concern across the Middle East. Analysts fear that if these pragmatists are eliminated, the war will produce a more ruthless and vengeful regime to replace the old leadership, whose grip on power is seen as weakening. The Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment, while the White House stressed that President Trump wants the peace process to continue.