The US special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, has said his security clearance is being reviewed and he is on leave in the meantime.
“I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favourably and soon,” Malley, a key figure in efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, told Reuters, Axios and CNN on Thursday. “In the meantime, I am on leave.”
CNN reported Malley was placed on leave without pay on Thursday, which occurred after his security clearance was suspended earlier this year amid an investigation into his handling of classified material.
Neither the State Department nor Malley immediately responded to requests for comment on the CNN story.
Earlier, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said Malley was on leave but did not say why or for how long, saying Abram Paley was filling in on an acting basis.
Appointed soon after the US president, Joe Biden, took office in 2021, Malley had the task of trying to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after then-president Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to abandon the pact and reimpose US sanctions on Tehran.
He helped craft the deal and, earlier in his career, was deeply engaged in former president Bill Clinton’s failed effort in 2000 to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
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. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons.
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, according to Iranian and western officials.
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