{"id":6109,"date":"2026-07-03T04:35:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6109"},"modified":"2026-07-03T04:35:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:35:37","slug":"u-s-warned-iran-about-israels-aims-to-assassinate-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6109","title":{"rendered":"U.S. warned Iran about Israel\u2019s aims to assassinate leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the spring, U.S. officials suspected that Israel intended to kill Iran\u2019s top negotiators and sent a warning to Tehran to take precautions.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Judge presses Trump administration on plans for East Potomac golf course<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center, with parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, left, on June 20. (Urs Flueeler\/Pool\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Senior U.S. officials feared that Israel intended to assassinate Iran\u2019s top negotiators as the Trump administration pursued a high-stakes deal to end the war there and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, current and former officials familiar with the matter said.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s objection to killing Abbas Araghchi, Iran\u2019s foreign minister, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the country\u2019s parliamentary speaker, was so acute that this spring it took the extraordinary step of asking intermediaries to warn Iran about Israel\u2019s assassination aims, the officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kill those folks and you\u2019re killing the pragmatists,\u201d said a U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. outlook on Israel\u2019s targeted killing campaign.<\/p>\n

As far back as March, when the Trump administration began to explore diplomatic options for ending the war, U.S. officials told Israeli counterparts not to continue killing Iran\u2019s political leadership, said a diplomat.<\/p>\n

That U.S. officials felt the need to take an additional step and warn Iran that its top negotiators could be killed demonstrates the strain in the U.S.-Israel relationship<\/a> and the Trump administration\u2019s limited influence over the Israeli government, said analysts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows the divergence of war aims between the U.S. and Israel and the fundamental determination on the part of Israel\u2019s prime minister to undermine any negotiation that the U.S. might conclude,\u201d said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official who has advised Republican and Democratic administrations.<\/p>\n

The Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment.<\/p>\n

When asked for comment from the White House, <\/b>a U.S. official said, \u201cThe president wants the peace process to play out.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n

U.S. concerns about Israeli assassinations were reported earlier by the New York Times.<\/p>\n

When the United States and Israel started the Iran war on Feb. 28, Israel assassinated scores of Iranian political and military leaders, including Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while the U.S. military focused on degrading Iran\u2019s navy and missile capabilities.<\/p>

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At first, the two allies shared the goal of regime change<\/a> in Iran, but they quickly decoupled as U.S. officials assessed that Tehran\u2019s military and clerical establishment would maintain their grip on power.<\/p>\n

More cracks emerged after Israel assassinated Iran\u2019s top national security official, Ali Larijani<\/a>, in mid-March, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe turning point wasn\u2019t the assassination of the supreme leader, it was the assassination of Larijani,\u201d said a Western official. \u201cThe U.S. was looking for an Iranian official to deal with and all of a sudden he was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent months, Araghchi and Ghalibaf have been the key contacts for U.S. officials in securing an initial ceasefire in April and then a framework agreement to end the war<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n

Even before that framework deal was reached, Israeli officials and powerful pro-Israel lobbyists in Washington began criticizing the agreement<\/a>, which closes the door on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s goal of regime change in Iran and paves the way for giving Iran economic sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.<\/p>\n

In March, President Donald Trump suggested publicly that Israel\u2019s assassination campaign was complicating efforts to negotiate with the regime. \u201cYou know it\u2019s a little tough,\u201d he told reporters at the time. \u201cThey\u2019ve wiped out everybody. I don\u2019t want them to be killed.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Ghalibaf was among the senior Iranian officials present in a building struck by Israel in last year\u2019s 12-day war, Middle Eastern media, citing Iran\u2019s semiofficial Fars news agency, has reported. The New York Times reported that Ghalibaf was nearly killed this year as well when Israel targeted a meeting of senior Iranian officials in an underground bunker.<\/p>\n

The attempted killings of Ghalibaf, Iran\u2019s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and other senior Iranian officials have raised concerns in the U.S. and in the Middle East that the war may have installed a more ruthless regime with a score to settle in place of an elderly leader whose hold on power was believed to be slipping.<\/p>

Read more Rockies erupt for 14-4 win over the Marlins, fueled by a 7-run sixth<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the spring, U.S. officials suspected that Israel intended to kill Iran\u2019s top negotiators and sent a warning to Tehran to take precautions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nU.S. warned Iran about Israel\u2019s aims to assassinate leaders - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6109\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. warned Iran about Israel\u2019s aims to assassinate leaders - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the spring, U.S. officials suspected that Israel intended to kill Iran\u2019s top negotiators and sent a warning to Tehran to take precautions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6109\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-03T04:35:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4557d368db6467d80ed47c373daf53fd-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"U.S. warned Iran about Israel\u2019s aims to assassinate leaders\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T04:35:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109\"},\"wordCount\":785,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1532da00f8c6f1732758828b3c054f22-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109\",\"name\":\"U.S. warned Iran about Israel\u2019s aims to assassinate leaders - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1532da00f8c6f1732758828b3c054f22-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T04:35:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6109#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1532da00f8c6f1732758828b3c054f22-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1532da00f8c6f1732758828b3c054f22-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, centre, and Speaker of the Islamic Parliament of Iran, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, left, at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, Sunday, June 20, 2026. 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