Israel took Iran’s Araqchi, Qalibaf off hit list after Pakistan request to US, Pakistani source says
By Ariba Shahid
ISLAMABAD, March 26 (Reuters) – Israel has removed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf from its target list after Pakistan called on Washington to “pressure Israel not to target them”, a Pakistani source with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters on Thursday.
“The Israelis had the coordinates and wanted to take them out, we told the US that if they were eliminated there would be no one else to talk to, so the US asked the Israelis to back off,” the source said.
Pakistan’s military and foreign office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Israeli military declined to comment and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that two senior Iranian officials had been temporarily removed from Israel’s list of officials while they explored possible peace talks. Citing US officials, the Journal said the two officials were removed from the list for up to four or five days, but did not mention any role for Pakistan in this.
Pakistan, Egypt and Türkiye are playing the role of mediators between Tehran and Washington to end the Iran war.
Islamabad maintained direct contact with both Washington and Tehran at a time when such channels were frozen for most other countries. Islamabad is also seen as a possible meeting point if peace talks are held.
Iran is reviewing the 15-article proposal sent by US President Donald Trump through Pakistan to end the war. The proposal calls for removing Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curtailing its ballistic missile program and cutting funding to regional allies, according to Israeli cabinet sources with knowledge of the plan.
Trump said Iran was desperate to make a deal, while Araqchi said Tehran was reviewing the US offer but did not intend to hold talks to end the conflict.
Israeli officials have repeatedly said that no senior Iranian official is immune from attack. Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he and Netanyahu gave the military authority to target officials without prior permission.
Asked whether Araqchi and Qalibaf had been removed from Israel’s target list at Pakistan’s request, Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said the military “goes through a rigorous process before every operation and every attack” but added: “I will not go into specific potential targets.”
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid and Saad Sayeed; Writing by Hritam Mukherjee and YP Rajesh; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus, William Maclean)
