The US special envoy for Iran says his security clearance is under review

US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said Thursday that his security clearance is under review, and that he expects the investigation to conclude “with a good outcome and soon.”

He added, “I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I did not get any other information but I expect the investigation to end well and soon. In the meantime, I am on leave.”

US State Department spokesman Matt Miller said Thursday that the US envoy, Mali, is “on vacation” and that Abram Paley is taking his place by proxy.

“Rob Malley is on vacation and Abram Paley serves as the Agency’s Special Envoy for Iran and leads the Department’s work on this matter,” Matt Miller wrote to Reuters in an email. He did not elaborate on the reason for the holiday or its duration.

Mali was appointed special envoy to Iran in January 2021, and he played a major role in the failed efforts of former US President Bill Clinton to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians in 2000 and in the Iranian nuclear agreement in 2015.

It was not clear if his vacation had any consequences for efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program following the decision of former US President Donald Trump
By withdrawing from the 2015 agreement and re-imposing large-scale US sanctions on Tehran.

Mali led US President Joe Biden’s failed efforts to revive the nuclear deal under which Iran curtailed its nuclear program and made it difficult for it to obtain the fissile material needed to build a nuclear weapon in return for broad sanctions relief. Tehran denies seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Western and Iranian officials said earlier this month that the United States, after failing to revive the deal, conducted
Talks with Iran to ease tensions by charting steps that would curb Iran’s nuclear program, lead to the release of some US citizens detained in Tehran, and unfreeze some Iranian assets abroad.