Featured Picture: Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf hosts Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran on May 17, 2026 (Office of the Iranian Parliament Speaker)
The New York Times previously reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pitched President Trump on launching the war back in early February by making a series of predictions that proved to be wrong, including the idea that Iran was ripe for regime change, that its ballistic missile program could be destroyed within weeks, and that it would be too weak to close the Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli officials have been clear that they want to restart the US-Israeli bombing campaign and have threatened to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who replaced his father, Ali Khamenei, after he was killed by an Israeli strike on February 28, the first day of the war.
The Capital & Empire report said that Israel has made the case to kill Ghalibaf directly to the US Department of War, and has focused on him since Khamenei’s whereabouts are unknown. The US intelligence report also determined that Israel wouldn’t target Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Israel has a history of targeting officials involved in negotiations. In September 2025, Israel attempted to kill Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya in Qatar as he was involved in negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire deal. The attack killed al-Hayya’s son, and an Israeli airstrike in Gaza recently killed another son of al-Hayya as he was involved in talks with the US-led so-called “Board of Peace.”
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