- United States and Israel removed Iran's Araghchi and Ghalibaf from hit list amid talks
- Israeli assassination plans halted after warnings from Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt mediators
- Trump opened door for high-level US-Iran negotiations with a four to five-day deadline
The United States and Israel have reportedly removed Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf from their hit list amid President Donald Trump's call for talks with Tehran. Ghalibaf and Araghchi-- two of Tehran's top negotiators-- were in Israel's target when mediators from Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt warned Washington that their assassination would likely burn all routes of a possible diplomatic end to the war, media reports said.
"The Israelis had their coordinates and wanted to take them out. We told the US that if they are also eliminated, then there is no one else to talk to, hence, the US asked the Israelis to back off," a Pakistani source with knowledge of the discussions told news agency Reuters.
However, the relief is short-lived and comes with a deadline. Per a Wall Street Journal report, Ghalibaf and Araghchi have been removed from the target list for up to four or five days as Trump opens the door to high-level negotiations.
Mediators from Turkey, Pakistan and Egypt are pushing for negotiators from Washington and Tehran to meet over the next few days to discuss pausing the war for peace talks, but officials told WSJ the odds of success are low as there are major gaps between US and Iranian demands.
President Trump has claimed that Iran was desperate to make a deal, while Tehran has said it has no intention of holding talks to wind down the conflict. Iran has also rejected America's 15-point proposal for ending the conflict, calling it "one-sided and unfair".
The US has said that the clock is ticking for Iran to come to the negotiating table. The White House has said that the US will hit Iran "harder than they have ever been hit before" if Tehran doesn't agree to end the conflict soon.
Since the start of the war, Iran's veteran supreme leader and a host of other top figures and Revolutionary Guards commanders have been killed in US-Israeli strikes, but the ruling system has maintained its ability to strategise and operate. Iran's former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and security chief Ali Larijani were among the biggest names targeted by Israel, which is hunting the Islamic Republic's top leader under a decapitation strategy it has similarly pursued against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The US military, meanwhile, has focused on attacking Iranian military facilities and missile threats.
