US warns Iran of Israeli plan to kill its chief negotiators, Araghchi and Ghalibaf, as Washington pushes for deal | Today’s news
As the Trump administration sought a high-level deal with Iran to end the war that began in late February, senior Washington officials feared Israel was planning to kill Tehran’s top negotiator.
The Washington Post, citing current and former officials, said the US strongly opposed the killings of Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and took the unusual step this spring of using intermediaries to warn Tehran that Israel was planning to assassinate them.
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A US official told WaPo: “You’re killing those people and you’re killing the pragmatists.” Another added that in March, as the Trump administration began exploring diplomatic ways to end the war in Iran, several US officials told their Israeli counterparts not to continue killing Tehran’s political leadership.
Strained relations between the US and Israel
According to the report, Washington’s decision to intervene and warn Tehran that its top negotiators could be killed underscored already strained ties between the US and Israel and the Trump administration’s limited influence over the Israeli government.
Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official who has advised both Republican and Democratic administrations, told the publication that “it shows the divergence of war aims between the US and Israel and a fundamental determination on the part of the Israeli prime minister to undermine any negotiations the US might make.”
Ties between Israel and the United States have been strained since the war began on February 28. Many of Iran’s political and military leaders, including the country’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were killed.
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At the beginning of the joint operation, both allies had a common goal, which is regime change in Iran; however, they quickly parted ways after US officials concluded that Tehran’s military and clerical establishment would continue to hold power, according to the Washington Post.
According to US officials, the rift between the two allies began to appear in March after Israel killed Iran’s top national security official, Ali Larijani. The report, citing an official, said: “The turning point was not the assassination of the supreme leader, it was the assassination of Larijani.” He added: “The US was looking for an Iranian official to deal with and suddenly he was gone.”
Donald Trump has criticized Israel’s murderous campaign
In early March of this year, US President Donald Trump publicly admitted that Israel’s murderous campaign was creating obstacles to negotiations with the regime. Speaking to reporters at the time, he said: “You know, it’s a bit difficult,” adding: “They exterminated them all. I don’t want them to be killed.”
The speaker of Iran’s parliament was nearly killed again this year when Israel attacked a meeting of senior Islamic Republic officials in an underground bunker. He was also among senior Iranian leaders who were present at the building that Israeli forces hit in the 2025 12-Day War.
In the months following the joint US-Israeli operation, both Araghchi and Ghalibaf were key negotiators for US officials in securing an initial ceasefire in April, followed by a 14-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the war in June.
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Even before Washington agreed to draft a memorandum of understanding with Tehran, Israeli officials and pro-Israel advocates in Washington criticized the deal. According to the Washington Post, it closed the door on Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of regime change in Tehran and opened the way for Iran to be granted relief from economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
Relations between Trump and Netanyahu have also soured since the war began. The US president has reprimanded Netanyahu several times, accusing him of endangering the peace talks.
