On July 2 local time, the American newspaper The New York Times reported, citing multiple US officials, that during the ceasefire negotiations between the United States and Iran in April this year, the US suspected that Israel might be plotting to assassinate senior Iranian negotiators. To prevent the negotiations from being disrupted, the US sent warnings to Iran through Middle Eastern countries.
American officials acknowledge that after the military strikes against Iran by the United States and Israel at the end of February, the Iranian leadership was the primary target. The late Iranian supreme leader Khamenei and several high-ranking officials were killed in the airstrikes. However, as negotiations for a ceasefire between the United States and Iran begin, the U.S. government believes that continuing to assassinate Iranian high-ranking officials will derail the negotiation process and lead to further escalation of conflict.
Reports indicate that during the April negotiations, the U.S. government suspected that Israel might be planning an assassination of Iran's Foreign Minister Al Aragizi and Iran's Islamic Council President Kalibaf. An American official revealed that in the White House’s view, “killing those people means killing pragmatists.”
Iranian Parliament Speaker Kalibaf and Iranian Foreign Minister Araqchi 《New York Times》
These informed officials revealed that in order to prevent Israel from disrupting the negotiations through assassination efforts, the United States issued warnings to Iran through Middle Eastern countries during the negotiations. U.S. officials also added that shortly before the ceasefire negotiations began, the U.S. government had already urged Israel to stop assassinations and not continue attacking Iranian leadership.
Regarding the disclosures by US media, the Israeli Embassy in the United States has refused to comment. A White House official responded, "President Trump hopes that the peace process will proceed smoothly."
Analysts point out that in the early stages of the conflict, the goals of the United States and Israel were very similar. However, as the war situation became stalemate, fundamental differences emerged between the two sides. The United States hopes to reach a peace agreement with Iran as soon as possible, while Israel is skeptical.
Formerly employed at the U.S. State Department, Aaron David Miller told The Washington Post that differences have strained U.S-Iran relations, and U.S. officials feel it necessary to take additional measures to remind Iran of this. "This reflects the differences between the U.S. and Israel in terms of war goals, as well as Israel's desire to undermine any negotiations that may be reached with the United States."
On July 1st local time, the United States and Iran held indirect technical talks in Doha, the capital of Qatar. However, there are still differences between the two sides regarding issues such as navigation in the Hormuz Strait. The mediation party, Pakistan, indicated that the next US-Iran talks are expected to take place after the funeral of Iran’s late supreme leader, Khamenei.
