US Warns Iran of Suspected Israeli Plot to Assassinate Negotiators

In the spring, U.S. officials covertly asked allied governments to alert Iran that Israel might be planning assassinations of Tehran’s chief negotiators – Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Two U.S. officials confirmed the warnings to CNN, while Israel dismissed the claim as fabricated. Unable to order its ally to desist, Washington acted to preserve the Iran‑U.S. diplomatic track, which had recently yielded an interim agreement to halt hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The report notes that earlier Israeli strikes killed senior Iranian figures Ali Larijani and Kamal Kharazi, and that Ghalibaf survived two prior assassination attempts. Scholars describe such actors as “spoilers” who undermine peace processes. The U.S. now faces the rare dilemma of managing a spoiler that is also its closest regional partner, complicating traditional diplomatic levers of coercion, inducement, or socialisation.