Fabrication of reality: Israel junks report about plot to kill Iranian officials

The NYT had reported that the US had reached out to countries in the Middle East in an effort to convey to Iran about possible Israeli assassination attempts targeting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

In Short

• US used indirect channels to alert Iran about possible threats to its negotiators: NYT
• US was reportedly concerned that an Israeli assassination attempt would doom Iran talks
• Israeli PM Netanyahu's office calls the NYT's report 'complete fabrication of reality'

Israel has dismissed a report by The New York Times wherein it was claimed that US officials were fearful of an Israeli attempt to assassinate Iran's two top negotiators involved in the indirect peace talks with Washington.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dubbed the news report a "complete fabrication of reality."

The NYT had reported that the United States had reached out to countries in the Middle East in an effort to convey to Iran about possible Israeli assassination attempts targeting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

"As usual, The New York Times' latest story about Israel and the Iranian negotiators is fake news," Netanyahu's office said in a statement cited by The Times of Israel.

The NYT had cited unnamed serving and former US officials in its report.

The US news outlet had noted that while the killing of senior Iranian figures had been part of Israel's war strategy from the very beginning, American concerns about possible attempts on Araghchi and Ghalibaf's lives spiked during delicate ceasefire negotiations that started in earnest in April.

Concerned that such a move by Israel would completely derail the talks, the US reportedly sought to indirectly warn Iran about the possibility of the two senior Iranian officials being fatally targeted.

US-IRAN TALKS: BRIEF OVERVIEW

US officials purportedly believed that any Israeli attempt to assassinate the duo would end the negotiations and reignite fighting.

Earlier this week, the US and Iran concluded a round of indirect talks in the Qatari capital of Doha with no sign they had made headway toward a lasting peace, focusing instead on issues that they said had been resolved when an interim agreement was announced two weeks ago.

According to sources cited by news agency Reuters, the negotiators from both sides spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and unfreezing Iran's funds, two critical issues under the initial agreement.

The next meeting will take place after funeral processions for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is due to be buried on July 9, per Qatar's Foreign Ministry.

The Doha discussions produced "positive progress" on issues related to the memorandum that halted the war in June and were "building on the outcomes" of a summit in Switzerland, the ministry spokesperson said in a post on X.

- Ends
(With inputs from agencies)