JEDDAH: US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, the architect of the ill-fated nuclear deal with Tehran, has been suspended without pay amid an investigation into his handling of classified material.
Malley said his security clearance was under review, but he expected the investigation to end “favorably and soon” and in the meantime he was on leave. “I
have not been provided any further information.”
Earlier, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said Malley was on leave but did not say why or for how long, and Abram Paley was filling in on an
acting basis.
Appointed soon after US President Joe Biden took office in 2021, Malley had the task of trying to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to abandon the pact and reimpose US sanctions on Tehran.
He helped craft the original 2015 deal and, earlier in his career, was deeply engaged in former President Bill Clinton’s failed 2000 effort to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Under the 2015 deal, Iran curbed its nuclear program to make it harder for it to obtain the fissile material for a nuclear weapon in return for broad sanctions relief.
Having failed to revive the deal, the US has held talks with Iran to try to ease tensions by sketching out steps that could limit the Iranian nuclear program, release some detained US citizens and unfreeze some Iranian assets abroad, Iranian and Western officials
said this month.
