According to NYT, US officials feared Israel may be hatching a plan to kill two of Iran’s senior negotiators during indirect peace talks between Washington and Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismissed The New York Times report claiming that United States officials feared Israel was planning to kill two of Iran’s senior negotiators during indirect peace talks and called it “fake news”, The Times Of Israel reported.
Reacting to the report, the Prime Minister’s Office said, “As usual, The New York Times’ latest story about Israel and the Iranian negotiators is fake news. A complete fabrication of reality.”
The New York Times reported yesterday that United States officials had reached out to regional countries to warn Iran about the chances of Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf facing assassination attempts during negotiations.
What Did The NYT Report Say?
According to The New York Times, US officials feared Israel may be hatching a plan to kill two of Iran’s senior negotiators during indirect peace talks between Washington and Tehran earlier this year and sought help from regional countries to warn Iran about the possibility.
The report, citing current and former American officials, said US concerns centred on Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during ceasefire negotiations that began in April.
According to the report, US officials believed that any assassination attempt on the two leaders during the talks could derail negotiations and trigger renewed fighting.
It said Washington asked other countries in the region to alert Iran to the possibility that Israel could target the two officials.
The report said that while US officials considered Araghchi and Ghalibaf legitimate military targets during the active phase of the conflict, they believed any attack after negotiations began would jeopardise diplomatic efforts.
According to the report, the Trump administration later learned that Ghalibaf was on an Israeli target list and asked Israel not to carry out any strike against him.