Biden’s Iran envoy calls nuclear deal’s fate ‘one big question mark’

ROBERT MALLEY, the man President JOE BIDEN has tasked with putting the United States back into the Iran nuclear deal, isn’t supremely confident he’ll succeed in his mission

Stephan Klement, EU Ambassador and European External Action Service (EEAS) Special Advisor on Iran Nuclear Issue and Robert Malley, US Special Envoy for Iran, from left, talk in front of the 'Hotel Imperial' near to 'Grand Hotel Vienna' where closed-door nuclear talks take place in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, June 20, 2021. (AP

Biden’s Iran envoy calls nuclear deal’s fate ‘one big question mark’

Politico

By ALEXANDER WARD and QUINT FORGEY

08/19/2021 03:46 PM EDT

Stephan Klement, EU Ambassador and European External Action Service (EEAS) Special Advisor on Iran Nuclear Issue and Robert Malley, US Special Envoy for Iran, from left, talk in front of the ‘Hotel Imperial’ near to ‘Grand Hotel Vienna’ where closed-door nuclear talks take place in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, June 20, 2021. (AP

“It’s just one big question mark,” he told NatSec Daily during an exclusive interview in his State Department office. Rejoining the multinational accord “is not something that we can fully control,” he said, citing a lack of engagement from the Iranians.

Negotiations between the United States, Iran, and five world powers have proceeded fruitlessly since April. Tehran’s side won’t even speak directly with Washington’s and instead prefers working through intermediaries while in Vienna. That dance was complicated by the arrival of new Iranian President EBRAHIM RAISI, a hardliner who experts suspect is more skeptical of the diplomatic effort than his pact-signing predecessor. No open bargaining has taken place since Raisi came to power in mid-July.

Moments after pointing to a portrait of former Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO unceremoniously stashed at the bottom of his closet (a joke apparently played by staff), Malley repeatedly refused to assign a percentage chance to America’s re-entry into the deal. “I wouldn’t be helping you much if I gave you a percentage,” he insisted, saying the unknown variables are about what the Iranians will and won’t do. But, he added, “we are prepared to resume the talks, which we wouldn’t do if we didn’t think [a deal] was possible.”

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https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2021/08/19/exclusive-bidens-iran-envoy-calls-nuclear-deals-fate-one-big-question-mark-494049