US Feared Israeli Assassination of Iranian Negotiators Amid 2023 Talks

American officials believed Israel might have planned to assassinate senior Iranian negotiators Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Parliament, during spring 2023 talks between Washington and Tehran aimed at reaching an interim agreement. These concerns intensified during ceasefire negotiations that began in April, prompting the US to reportedly ask regional countries to warn Iran against such Israeli operations, fearing they would derail the talks.

US sources acknowledged that while Araghchi and Ghalibaf could have been considered legitimate targets by Israel during intense conflict phases, the progress in negotiations made any assassination attempt highly risky, likely collapsing the talks and reigniting hostilities. The New York Times noted that these suspicions highlighted diverging war objectives between the US, which sought a deal, and Israel, which remained skeptical of ceasefire prospects from the outset.

In late March, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel and the US temporarily removed Araghchi and Ghalibaf from their assassination target lists for several days to facilitate negotiations. After the ceasefire was declared, a memorandum of understanding was signed, and talks continued.

In April, Ghalibaf was scheduled to meet US Deputy Vice President J.D. Vance in Islamabad, but Iranian fears of an Israeli assassination attempt led to demands for US guarantees via Pakistani and Qatari intermediaries that Israel would not conduct covert actions against them. Pakistani fighter jets escorted the Iranian delegation's flights to and from Islamabad. On the return flight, Iranian security forces warned Ghalibaf's plane of an Israeli threat, including reports of Israeli fighter jets entering Iranian airspace near the Iraq border. The plane made an emergency landing in Mashhad, Iran, and the delegation traveled eight hours by road back to Tehran.

Reuters reported that Pakistan deployed 24 fighter jets and an AWACS system to protect the Iranian delegation during the negotiations, underscoring the scale of the operation to safeguard the talks. The Pakistani Air Force used advanced Chinese-made J-10 jets for the mission, maintaining security responsibility even beyond Pakistani airspace.

This episode reflects the complex interplay of US, Israeli, and Iranian interests during a critical period of diplomatic engagement in 2023.