Iranian officials fear that US ceasefire talks are a trap — an attempt to lure the regime’s last surviving leaders into an ambush where they can be assassinated, according to a report.

Leaders in Tehran worry that any face-to-face negotiations with the US and Israel to end the war would be a ruse to draw out Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ghalibaf, a former paramilitary commander and one of the few senior Iranian leaders to escape the airstrikes, is wanted by the US to take part in any peace discussions.

Officials in Iran also claim that President Trump’s announced postponement of strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure is just an attempt to bring oil prices under control before resuming strikes, Iranian officials and their Arab counterparts who speak with them told the Journal.