Israel wants to kill the Iranian delegation? Tel Aviv’s reaction to NYT report

A dispute has arisen between Israel and American media ‘The New York Times’ regarding a report. The report claimed that US officials had warned Iran about possible Israeli conspiracies aimed at assassinating senior Iranian leaders involved in nuclear talks.

The controversy began when The New York Times published a report on Thursday quoting American officials. According to the report, Washington had warned Tehran in April that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf could become Israel’s targets.

Rejecting this report, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement on X. The statement said that as always, The New York Times’ latest news about Israeli and Iranian negotiators is false. This is a completely different and fabricated story from reality. Even after this, the New York Times stuck to its reporting and responded to criticism of the Israeli government.

The New York Times’s response
US media responded to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, posting, “We stand by our fact-based reporting, which is based on conversations with current and former US officials. The Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment before the story was published.”

‘Israel was considering killing Araghchi-Ghalibaf’
According to the NYT report, some US officials believed that Israel was considering killing Araghchi and Ghalibaf after the first ceasefire on April 8. Tehran had selected these two Iranian officials to participate in nuclear talks with America. The report said that Washington was worried that Israel might see him as its next target amid a major campaign of assassinations inside Iran.

The Prime Minister’s Office:

As usual, The New York Times’ latest story about Israel and the Iranian negotiators is fake news.

A complete fabrication of reality.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 3, 2026

An important claim has been made in the report related to Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament. According to the NYT, US officials believed Israel was planning to target Ghalibaf as he returned to Tehran from Islamabad on April 12 after talks with US Vice President JD Vance.

emergency landing in mashhad
The report said that US officials informed Tehran that two Israeli fighter planes had entered Iranian airspace via Iraq and were preparing to target Ghalibaf’s plane during the return trip. After receiving the warning, Iranian officials reportedly passed this information to the plane. According to the report, Ghalibaf then made an emergency landing in Mashhad, northern Iran.

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