White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed on Friday that President Biden appointed Rob Malley to be the US envoy to Iran. Malley was the lead negotiator for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.
Malley’s appointment has been rumored for over a week, and many Iran hawks came out in opposition against it since he has a history of successful diplomacy with Tehran. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) wrote on Twitter last week that Malley “has a long track record of sympathy for the Iranian regime & animus towards Israel.”
While Malley’s appointment is a good sign for the JCPOA, the Biden administration doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to lift sanctions on Iran. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that Iran must return to compliance first, and then the US would, something he said was a “long ways” away.
With the US and Iran so far apart, a dialogue is needed to move forward. The US has yet to reach out to Iran, but reports say Malley has been in touch with European allies on how to approach Iran and the JCPOA.
Sources told Reuters that Malley spoke with French, German, and British officials on Thursday. “It was to take stock of the dossier and to assess what our state of mind is,” a European diplomatic source said.
As I stated four days ago, Rob Malley has the required background and experience to serve our country as envoy to Iran. We have to put a full stop to the uninvited, highly inappropriate and hostile interventions by Israel to influence our foreign policy. As I stated before, the highest recommendation for Rob Malley’s appointment is that Israel’s Netanyahu is lobbying against it.
Biden is banking on EU-3 to team up with, hoping to persuade Iran to come around. But Trump’s withdrawal from JCPOA has badly tarnished our trustworthiness & has given ample leverage to the Hawks in Iran, empowering them to refuse to reengage in any negotiations with the U.S., regardless of EU-3’s insistence, arm-twisting, or empty promises (remember INSTEX)! After what Trump did, even some moderates in Iran have lost faith in the fruitfulness of any renewed or modified agreements with the U.S.; noteworthy to mention how severely the Moderates’ position in Iran’s politics has been diminished ever since. The hardliners have the upper hand & will do their best to maintain it until June to turn their presidential election result in their favor. I would do the same I were them! The only way Biden can hope for some success in this endeavor is to make a few meaningful concessions in advance, & that’s a non-starter as far as Israel & 3 Arab Gulf nations are concerned. Therefore, it is a fair assessment to assume that JCPOA is already dead, sorry to say!