U.S. special envoy for Iran Rob Malley on leave, says security clearance "under review"

Media reports indicate that Special Envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, was placed on unpaid leave after his security clearance was suspended earlier this year amidst an investigation into potential mishandling of classified documents. These reports raise serious concerns both regarding Malley’s conduct and whether the State Department misled Congress and the American public.

In a statement to the media, Special Envoy Malley confirmed, “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 favorably and soon. In the meantime, I am on leave.” According to CNN, a U.S. official indicated that “Malley’s clearance was suspended amid a State Department diplomatic security investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information.”

This news follows the troubling recent revelation that the Biden Administration held indirect “proximity talks” with the Iranian regime in May 2023, underscoring the importance of congressional oversight on Iran negotiations and policy, and for transparency and accountability on the part of the Department and the rest of the Biden Administration.

While the suspension of Special Envoy Malley’s clearance is independently troubling, our concern is compounded by the State Department’s failure to respond to the Committee’s efforts to conduct oversight of its negotiations with and policy toward Iran. Since April 11, 2023, the Committee has repeatedly requested Special Envoy Malley’s testimony, which the Department has not fulfilled, despite Special Envoy Malley’s numerous press engagements dating back to May 30, 2023.

Senior State Department officials informed the Committee that Special Envoy Malley was unable to testify or brief because he was on personal leave due to the illness of a close family member.  At no point did the Department indicate that Special Envoy Malley’s security clearance was suspended or under review, or that he was being investigated for potential misconduct. <Source>

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul ‘Deeply Disturbed’ by Admin Re-Engaging in Talks with Iran

I am disturbed by recent revelations that the Administration has re-engaged in “proximity talks” with the Iranian regime, and that the results of these discussions have included the apparent greenlighting of sizable payments to Iran. This calls into question your Administration’s intent to follow the law and submit any agreement with Iran to Congress, as required by the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (“INARA”; 42 U.S.C. 2160e).

Reports indicate that indirect talks between the United States and Iran have been ongoing since December, amid Iran’s cruel and brutal crackdown on popular protests that were triggered by the vicious murder of Mahsa Amini. Meanwhile, Iran is provocatively enriching uranium to 60 percent purity, stonewalling International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigators, and even reconfiguring centrifuges to preserve the option of quickly scaling up enrichment to 84 percent, just shy of weapons-grade. Uranium enrichment at this scale has no credible peaceful purpose. Iran has accumulated irreversible nuclear knowledge. Any deal that merely caps, rather than completely ends, Iran’s nuclear program represents a dangerous undermining of global non- proliferation norms.

Beyond Iran’s nuclear provocations, its malign activity continues to threaten vital U.S. national security interests. Iranian proxies continue to attack U.S. troops in the Middle East. In recent months, Iran has seized several oil tankers operating in international waterways, violating freedom of navigation and attacking the global economy. Iran is attempting to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil and continues to arm its proxies throughout the Middle East. Additionally, Iran is fueling Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine by providing drones and other weapons in violation of restrictions set out under Annex B to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231.

Rather than using United States diplomatic leverage and military deterrence to dissuade Iran from engaging in these malign activities, this Administration is rewarding Iran’s bad behavior in exchange for a false promise of de-escalation.<Source>

Iran moves toward possible atom bomb test in defiance of Western sanctions: intel report

A fresh batch of damning European intelligence reports reveal that the Islamic Republic of Iran sought to bypass U.S. and EU sanctions to secure technology for its nuclear weapons program with a view toward testing an atomic bomb.

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which first published translations of the intelligence documents on its website, the security agencies of Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany revealed sensitive data during the first six months of 2023 on the Iranian regime's illicit nuclear weapons proliferation activities. The reports mainly cover Iran’s alleged illegal conduct in 2022.

The most shocking revelation in the trove of intelligence data was from the Netherlands General and Intelligence Security Service (AVID) that determined Iran’s astonishingly fast development of weapons-grade uranium "brings the option of a possible [Iranian] first nuclear test closer." 

The Biden administration is reportedly seeking to replicate a mini-version of the JCPOA.

"The reality is that Iran has not in any way backed off from its efforts to build nuclear weapons, has taken every opportunity to advance its technological capabilities to this end and has for years misled the international community and lied about its intentions while at the same time widely publicizing its goal to legitimately attain nuclear-threshold status and continues doing so to this day," Ayelet Savyon, director of MEMRI’s Iran Media Project, wrote. <Source>

An Iranian nuclear facility is so deep underground that US airstrikes likely couldn’t reach it

Near a peak of the Zagros Mountains in central Iran, workers are building a nuclear facility so deep in the earth that it is likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites, according to experts and satellite imagery analyzed by The Associated Press.

The photos and videos from Planet Labs PBC show Iran has been digging tunnels in the mountain near the Natanz nuclear site, which has come under repeated sabotage attacks amid Tehran’s standoff with the West over its atomic program.

With Iran now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers, the installation complicates the West’s efforts to halt Tehran from potentially developing an atomic bomb as diplomacy over its nuclear program remains stalled.

Since the demise of the nuclear accord, Iran has said it is enriching uranium up to 60%, though inspectors recently discovered the country had produced uranium particles that were 83.7% pure. That is just a short step from reaching the 90% threshold of weapons-grade uranium.

As of February, international inspectors estimated Iran’s stockpile was over 10 times what it was under the Obama-era deal, with enough enriched uranium to allow Tehran to make “several” nuclear bombs, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. <Source>