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WASHINGTON – President Biden has appointed Robert Malley, a veteran Middle East expert and former Obama administration official, to be his special envoy to Iran, two senior State Department officials said Thursday evening.
Mr Malley will be tasked with trying to persuade Tehran to curb its nuclear program – and to stop enriching uranium beyond the limits imposed by a 2015 deal with world powers – and to agree to new ones. negotiations before the United States lifts its deadly economic sanctions against Iran.
It is far from clear whether the strategy, as indicated by Mr Biden, will succeed. Iran has repeatedly said it will not return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal until the United States eases its sanctions, setting up a high-stakes competition to see which side will flash first.
The return to the nuclear deal, which was negotiated by the Obama administration, was part of Mr. Biden’s campaign promises after President Donald J. Trump withdrew from it in 2018. Since then, Iran has consistently violated the agreement to limit its nuclear program. , and last year, international inspectors concluded that he again had enough fuel to make a bomb.
Mr. Malley currently heads the International Crisis Group in Washington, a conflict resolution organization. He was chosen despite accusations by the Tories that he offered too many concessions in the interest of getting a possible deal. His appointment was reported earlier Thursday by Reuters.
One of the senior State Department officials said negotiations were still a long way off; the second official disputed reports that the United States and Iran had already entered into indirect talks. The two spoke on condition of anonymity before Mr Malley’s appointment was officially announced.
The first official said Mr Malley and other diplomats would initially consult with leaders in Europe, the Middle East and Congress to ensure any further negotiations reflect their concerns and ideas.
Britain, France and Germany are eager to return to the 2015 deal and have tried to keep it intact even as Tehran overstepped its limits. But Israel and Muslim countries in the Middle East have long opposed the deal, in part because it has done virtually nothing to respond to Iran’s other military threats, including its missile program and its support for proxy militias in the region.
Senior congressional officials on both sides of the political aisle also remain skeptical of a return to the deal.
The New Washington
The chief State Department official said that US negotiators would ultimately seek a “longer, stronger but also broader deal” to curb Iran’s missiles and proxies – another strategy Tehran has already refused to consider.
But it echoes what the Trump administration demanded when it pulled out of the 2015 deal and imposed a pressure campaign of harsh sanctions and military threats against Iran and its top officials.
The State Department official said there was hope for “a way forward,” noting the dire state of Iran’s economy. But he wouldn’t give details, including whether sanctions relief could be offered as a good faith move, except to dismiss any comparison to the Trump administration’s lobbying campaign.
Mr Malley will oversee a team of negotiators and experts who will bring what Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Wednesday described as “divergent perspectives” on the issue.
Even before Mr Malley’s appointment, the Tories had accused him of being too accommodating to Iran and not supporting Israel enough, based on his track record as a senior Middle Eastern affairs official under the Obama and Clinton administrations. Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, declared opponent of the nuclear deal, written on twitter that Mr. Malley’s selection would be “deeply troubling”.
A public statement supporting his appointment, signed by dozens of foreign policy experts and former U.S. officials, called Mr. Malley “one of the United States’ most respected foreign policy experts” and a “wise analyst and accomplished diplomat”.
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