00:12A plane full of Iranian diplomats, two unidentified fighter jets closing in from Iraqi airspace,
00:19and an emergency landing that may have prevented a diplomatic collapse.
00:24This is the story the New York Times just broke, and it exposes a serious rift between the U.S.
00:31and Israel.
00:32According to the New York Times report published July 2nd, citing current and former U.S. officials,
00:38Washington believed Israel may have been plotting to assassinate two of Iran's most important men at the negotiating table,
00:45Foreign Minister Abbas Arakji and Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagar Galiboff.
00:50The alleged window? The weeks right after the April 8th ceasefire,
00:55exactly when these two were becoming Iran's lead voices in peace talks with the U.S.
01:00Here's the twist. Earlier in the war, killing senior Iranian officials was the whole strategy.
01:07Israel had already killed Iran's supreme leader, its top national security official, and a former foreign minister.
01:14But once negotiations started, U.S. officials say the calculus changed.
01:19Kill Arakji and Galiboff, and, in the words of officials cited by the Times,
01:24the U.S. would have no one else to talk to.
01:27The talks, and the ceasefire, could collapse entirely.
01:31Then came April 12th.
01:33Galiboff had just met with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance in Islamabad.
01:38Pakistani fighter jets had escorted his delegation's plane the entire way, as a precaution.
01:44On the flight home, Iranian security forces say they received intelligence that two Israeli fighter jets had entered Iranian airspace
01:52from the direction of Iraq,
01:54and that Galiboff's craft was the target.
01:57The plane didn't risk it.
01:58It diverted immediately, making an emergency landing in Mashhad, in northeastern Iran.
02:04From there, Galiboff and his delegation drove back to Tehran, an eight-hour trip by land.
02:10Israel hasn't confirmed or denied the specific claim,
02:14but one unnamed Israeli security official gave a pointed non-denial to I-24 News.
02:20Quote,
02:24That's the kind of strategic ambiguity Israel has leaned on throughout this war,
02:29never confirming, never fully denying.
02:32This report matters because it shows just how far apart Washington and Jerusalem's goals had drifted,
02:39even while they were fighting this same war.
02:41The U.S. wanted a deal.
02:43Israel, by many accounts, wanted to keep the pressure on,
02:47skeptical that any ceasefire would hold without deeper change in Tehran.
02:52And it raises an uncomfortable question.
02:54Was the U.S. quietly restraining its own ally to keep diplomacy alive?
02:59Ceasefire arrangements are still fragile.
03:03Indirect talks are still happening.
03:05And this story is a reminder of just how close things reportedly came to falling apart.
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