The Biden administration faced growing pressure Tuesday to explain the mystery around its top Iran envoy, Robert Malley, whose disappearance from his key position inside the State Department has plunged Iran policy into uncertainty and raised questions about whether the White House’s diplomatic outreach to Tehran might have jeopardized national security.
House Republican sources told The Washington Times on Tuesday that the State Department provided few answers about Mr. Malley. The envoy was at the center of the administration’s diplomacy with Iran before he was reportedly placed on unpaid leave and had his security clearance suspended.
Mr. Malley was the face of the administration’s outreach to Iran. He was charged with trying to salvage at least a portion of the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran that President Trump repudiated in 2018. President Biden came to office in 2021 pledging to revive the multinational accord, but the effort has been repeatedly frustrated.
Republican sources said they might demand a classified briefing from State Department officials to address unanswered questions about Mr. Malley’s situation, including how long his security clearance has been under review and whether government officials willfully withheld information from Congress about Mr. Malley’s status earlier this year.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Texas Republican, said over the weekend that leaking classified secrets to foreign adversaries “would be treason,” underscoring the potential severity of the situation and casting a spotlight on the close contacts Mr. Malley cultivated with influential Iranians.
The furor has gripped both sides of the Capitol. In the Senate, 18 Republicans signed a letter Monday seeking answers to numerous questions about Mr. Malley and his status, including when exactly Mr. Malley was placed on leave, how long he continued to work on Iran policy after his security clearance was suspended and whether he returned all classified devices to the State Department.
“Given the role and responsibilities of the special envoy for Iran and the position’s importance to securing U.S. national security interests, we were alarmed to learn that the U.S. Department of State has suspended Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley’s clearance, is conducting an investigation into Malley’s handling of classified information, and only recently placed Malley on leave without pay,” the letter reads in part. “We write to request that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conduct an independent investigation into whether State Department officials complied with all appropriate laws and regulations … with regard to the suspension of [Mr. Malley’s] access to classified information.”
Asked about Mr. Malley’s curious situation, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan praised the envoy’s character but punted all questions to the State Department.
Mr. Sullivan told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Mr. Malley “has served multiple administrations faithfully and well. He is a public servant. He is a diplomat. He is engaged in high-level, high-stakes diplomacy for a long time. And he’s someone who a lot of us, including myself, have deep respect for.”
As to his “current circumstances,” Mr. Sullivan said, “I have to refer you to the State Department on that.”
Mr. Malley’s exit, even if temporary, has thrust Mr. Biden’s Iran policy into flux. The president pressed Mr. Malley and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to resurrect the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, which limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from punishing U.S. and international economic sanctions.
After nearly two years of diplomacy, negotiations broke down last year during Iran’s brutal crackdown on domestic protesters, its military backing of Russia in its war with Ukraine, and continued assaults on U.S. troops in the Middle East by militias with direct links to Tehran.
Iran has sought guarantees that U.S. administrations will not follow Mr. Trump’s lead and reject the deal. U.S. negotiators say they cannot provide such guarantees.
Private conversations
Mr. Malley, a lead JCPOA negotiator in the Obama administration, has reportedly sought to revive the effort in recent months by meeting multiple times with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations. That behind-the-scenes work seems to be at issue now, with questions about what sensitive information, if any, Mr. Malley revealed.
Mr. Malley has said little about the ordeal, though he has seemed to deny any wrongdoing. He told Politico via text message on June 29 that he was informed that his security clearance was under review but was not given further information.
“I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon,” the envoy wrote. “In the meantime, I am on leave.”
State Department officials have said Mr. Malley was the subject of an investigation into the mishandling of classified information, according to The Associated Press. The news agency reported in late June that questions were raised after Mr. Malley skipped a classified congressional briefing on Iran on May 16.
The State Department this week offered little detail on the matter, but a spokesperson confirmed to The Times that Mr. Malley remains on leave. Officials said they could not give further information about Mr. Malley’s status because of privacy considerations.
The State Department’s deputy special envoy for Iran, Abram Paley, is leading the administration’s day-to-day Iran policy, the spokesperson said. Mr. Malley also appears to have been scrubbed from social media accounts related to the State Department’s Iran portfolio.
Although a favorite of some in the U.S. foreign policy establishment, Mr. Malley has long been scrutinized by Republicans.
The Washington Times reported in 2021 that Mr. Malley and former Secretary of State John Kerry continued to meet with Iranian officials after President Obama left office.
Some of the meetings were with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in an apparent bid to counter the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy on Iran.
Despite its outreach to Iran, the Biden administration has upheld the State Department’s long-standing designation of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism and retained a Trump-era designation of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Officials have said Mr. Biden would use force, if necessary, to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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