U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly has asked Robert Malley, a top negotiator of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, if he wants to be U.S. special envoy on Iran.
Malley has reportedly accepted.
Citing a source close to Malley, Politico wrote that when Blinken “asked whether he would want the job, Malley said yes—but also asked for a team that would represent a broad diversity of viewpoints on how best to renegotiate the Iran deal.”
Whether Blinken accepted Malley’s request remains unknown. The U.S. State Department declined to comment.
The United States withdrew in May 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal, reimposing sanctions lifted under it, along with enacting new sanctions against Tehran in what the Trump administration called a “maximum pressure” campaign.
Since Jewish Insider reported last week that Malley was being considered for the envoy role, the veteran of the Clinton and Obama administrations has come under fire, mainly from the conservative side of the ideological spectrum for his viewpoints, as being favorable towards Iran and hostile towards Israel.
