The veteran diplomat, who previously held the post of foreign minister from 1997 to 2005 during the presidency of reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami, was reportedly targeted in the airstrikes. Kharazi was deeply involved in the backchannel talks for achieving peace in the latest West Asian war that began on February 28 when the US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran killed its then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at his office premises in Tehran.