In Israel’s sights
Trump undermines attack plans against Iran’s top negotiator
July 3, 2026 – 1:49 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Trump is relying on negotiations in the war against Iran, Netanyahu on regime change. Now research reveals how the US government prevented an attack on Iran’s chief negotiator.
Before the official funeral ceremonies for the slain revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Saturday, the Iranian government issued an urgent warning and warned of possible assassination plans from abroad. “Any miscalculation will be met with a decisive and even harsher response than ever before. A response that will forever be recorded in its history of shame,” said a statement from the Revolutionary Guard carried by Iranian media.
Reports from the newspapers “Washington Post” and “New York Times” now show how current the fear of assassination plans from abroad is. Accordingly, the US administration of President Donald Trump the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only with difficulty dissuading him from killing Iran’s chief negotiators in the peace talks. According to the research, the Israeli side intended to attack Iran Eliminate Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. “If you kill these people, you kill the pragmatists,” the Washington Post quoted a US diplomat as saying.
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The USA and Israel pursued with the war against the Iran different goals. Israel was betting on regime change in Tehran and the elimination of the Iranian leadership.
US warnings about middlemen
According to a report by the Arabic broadcaster “Al-Mayadeen”, the Israeli plans were very specific. The Iranian delegation was threatened by Israeli fighter jets on the flight to the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where negotiations with the USA were planned. The USA probably sent a warning to Iran through intermediaries. The flight route was then changed. On the way back, Ghalibaf’s plane even had to make a stopover after safety warnings.
“Killing senior Iranian leaders was part of Israel’s strategy from the start of the war,” according to the Washington Post. Accordingly, Netanyahu’s government had been alarmed since March at the latest about US plans to negotiate a settlement with Iran. Since then, the US administration has warned Netanyahu not to eliminate top negotiators.
