WASHINGTON – President Biden has appointed Robert Malley, a veteran Middle East expert and former Obama administration official, to be his special envoy to Iran, said two senior State Department officials on Thursday night.
Malley will be responsible for trying to persuade Tehran to control its nuclear program – and to stop enriching uranium beyond the limits imposed by a 2015 agreement with world powers – and to agree to new negotiations before the United States lift its violent economic sanctions against Iran.
It is not at all clear whether the strategy, as directed by Biden, will succeed. Iran has repeatedly said it will not comply with the 2015 nuclear agreement until the United States relaxes its sanctions, setting up a high-risk dispute over which side will blink first.
Returning to the nuclear deal, which was negotiated by the Obama administration, was among Biden’s campaign promises after President Donald J. Trump withdrew from it in 2018. Since then, Iran has consistently violated the deal that sought to limit its nuclear program and last year, international inspectors concluded that there was enough fuel to build a bomb.
Mr. Malley currently runs the International Crisis Group in Washington, a conflict resolution organization. He was chosen despite conservative accusations that he would offer many concessions in the interest of reaching any possible agreement. His appointment was reported on Thursday by Reuters.
One of the senior officials at the State Department said the negotiations remained distant; the second contested official account that the United States and Iran had already started backstage talks. Both spoke on condition of anonymity before Malley’s appointment was officially announced.
The first official said Malley and other diplomats would initially consult with leaders in Europe, the Middle East and Congress to ensure that any new negotiations reflect their concerns and perceptions.
Britain, France and Germany are eager to return to the 2015 agreement and have tried to keep it intact even while Tehran has crossed its limits. But Israel and the Muslim nations of the Middle East have long opposed the deal, in part because it has done virtually nothing to address Iran’s other military threats, including its missile program and support for wanted militias in the region.
Senior Congress officials on both sides of the political corridor also remain skeptical about a return to the deal.
The New Washington
The first State Department official said that American negotiators would seek a “longer, stronger, but also broader agreement” to contain Iran’s missiles and proxies – another strategy that Tehran has already refused to consider.
But that echoes what the Trump administration demanded when it withdrew from the 2015 agreement and imposed a campaign of pressure for harsh sanctions and military threats against Iran and its senior officials.
The State Department official said there was hope for “a way forward”, looking at the poor state of the Iranian economy. But he gave no details, including whether any sanctions relief could be offered as a measure of good faith, except to reject any comparison with the Trump administration’s pressure campaign.
Mr. Malley will oversee a team of negotiators and experts who will bring what Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken described on Wednesday as “different perspectives” on the issue.
Even before Malley was appointed, conservatives accused him of being too complacent with Iran and not supporting Israel enough, based on his track record as a senior authority on Middle East affairs during the Obama and Clinton governments. Senator Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, avowed opponent of the nuclear deal, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Malley’s selection would be “deeply worrying”.
A public statement supporting his nomination, signed by dozens of foreign policy experts and former US officials, classified Mr. Malley as “one of the most respected foreign policy experts in the United States” and an “astute analyst and accomplished diplomat” .