Earlier on Thursday, Mehr News Agency reported that the Aq Tekeh Khan Bridge in the northern Golestan province had been struck by a projectile.
A US official told Axios that the American military targeted two railway bridges in northern Iran with cruise missiles as part of Wednesday‘s strikes.
The attack marked the first reported US strike on Iranian transportation infrastructure since the ceasefire took effect on April 8.
(April 15, 2026)
He noted that the Iranian delegation faced direct security threats while heading for negotiations with the United States in Islamabad, stating, „We received direct threats while en route to Islamabad that our plane might be attacked,“ prompting heightened caution during and after the visit.
„On our way back, we did not fly to Tehran. It‘s a very long story, but we all believed that there was a significant chance that they would down our plane, that they would shoot down our plane, that they would fire a missile at our plane,“ Marandi said.
He explained that on the way back from the talks, the Iranian delegation „secretly got into a different plane, and that plane on the way to Tehran suddenly diverted and landed very swiftly in Mashhad. And then we all came to Tehran by train, by car, and by bus.
According to the report, Pakistani fighter jets escorted the Iranian delegation‘s aircraft to and from Islamabad because of fears that Israel could attempt to assassinate senior Iranian officials.
On the return journey, Iranian security services informed the aircraft carrying Ghalibaf that intelligence indicated Israel was preparing an attack and that two Israeli fighter jets had entered Iranian airspace from the western border near Iraq, the newspaper reported, citing Iranian officials.
Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to Ghalibaf who accompanied the delegation, confirmed the account on social media.
The aircraft subsequently made an emergency landing in Mashhad, and members of the delegation completed the journey to Tehran by land, travelling for approximately eight hours, the newspaper said.