The U.S. State Department has appointed Robert Malley, former foreign policy advisor in the Obama administration, as special envoy for Iran.
According to Radio Nour, a senior official at the U.S. State Department announced that President Joe Biden's administration appointed Robert Malley on Thursday as special envoy for Iranian affairs. Malley served on the U.S. National Security Council from February 2014 to January 2017 and was one of the top American negotiators of the Iranian nuclear program in 2015. Data indicates that the former diplomat tends to favor "understandings" that he believes will reduce tensions in the region. His "original sin" in the eyes of pro-Israel advocates in America was his denial of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's account of the "generous offers" presented to the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, which the latter rejected during the 2000 Camp David Summit with U.S. President Bill Clinton. Malley attended the summit as a member of the National Security Council and later clarified in an article published in 2001, after the Bush administration took power, that these offers were essentially a "trap for the Palestinians," allowing for the perpetuation of Israeli control over the territories occupied in 1967.
Malley's expressed positions in subsequent years regarding Hamas and the necessity of engaging with it, given its broad popular support among Palestinians, as well as his encouragement of dialogue with Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah, along with his meetings with officials from these parties, have increased the hostility of the pro-Israel lobby towards him.
Robert Malley, 58, is a lawyer and political expert specializing in conflict resolution. He is also the son of Egyptian Jewish journalist Simon Malley, who lived in France and the United States and was a pioneer of the liberal movement. The former diplomat has a long career, having served on the National Security Council as director for Middle Eastern affairs under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and was an assistant to the president for Arab-Israeli conflict matters. He is considered one of the architects of the nuclear agreement between Iran and major world powers during Obama’s presidency.
Reports indicate that Malley had an informal working relationship with the Obama administration, which ended after his contacts with representatives of Hamas were revealed. Recently, Hebrew media stated that "to say that Malley is a diplomat whose intention is to protect Israel's security is merely words at best, as he opposed the principles presented by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the Trump administration as a condition for lifting sanctions on Iran." Earlier in November, Malley criticized the assassination of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, stating that the attack "will make it difficult for Trump's successor to resume diplomacy with Iran."
