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US Envoy on Mideast Tour to Coordinate Efforts on Iran

US special envoy to Iran Rob Malley (AP)
US special envoy to Iran Rob Malley (AP)
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US Envoy on Mideast Tour to Coordinate Efforts on Iran

US special envoy to Iran Rob Malley (AP)
US special envoy to Iran Rob Malley (AP)

US Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley will travel to the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain Nov. 11-20 to coordinate efforts ahead of fresh talks about reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Malley will lead a joint team among a number of US federal agencies, 9 days before the “5 + 1 group" of the permanent members of the Security Council meet in Vienna to get Washington and Tehran to resume compliance with the nuclear deal, under which Iran restrained its nuclear program in return for relief from US, EU and UN sanctions.

A statement released by the US State Department on Thursday, said Malley “will coordinate our approaches on a broad range of concerns with Iran, including its destabilizing activities in the region and the upcoming seventh round of talks on a mutual return to full compliance with the (deal)," referring to the Nov. 29 resumption of indirect US-Iran talks.

Malley’s trip will be his first to Israel as a member of the Biden administration. He has met several times with Israeli officials in Washington. He is one of the original architects of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but has rarely appeared face-to-face with Israeli officials on this issue, given Israel's strong opposition to the deal.

Malley last spoke publicly on efforts to revive the JCPOA last month when he told reporters that Iran’s explanations for staying away from nuclear talks in Vienna are “running out.”

Days after, Iran announced readiness to resume negotiations on Nov. 29, after a five-months hiatus due to the elections that brought hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to power.

US President Joe Biden said he was ready to resume the nuclear agreement talks, under which Iran agreed to strict limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for comprehensive sanctions relief.

Iran wants a lifting of the US sanctions imposed by former US President Donald Trump after withdrawing from the deal in 2018.

The Biden administration says it will only negotiate actions taken by Trump on the nuclear program, not the steps imposed on other concerns such as human rights.

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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)

Türkiye on Thursday insisted the PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm and disband "immediately", a week after a historic call by the Kurdish militant group's jailed founder.

"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons," a Turkish defense ministry source said.

The remarks made clear the demand referred to all manifestations of Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, costing tens of thousands of lives.

Although the insurgency targeted Türkiye, the PKK's leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq and its fighters are also part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key force in northeastern Syria.

Last week, Ocalan made a historic call urging the PKK to dissolve and his fighters to disarm, with the group on Saturday accepting his call and declaring a ceasefire.

The same day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that if the promises were not kept, Turkish forces would continue their anti-PKK operations.

"If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... or deceive... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist," he said.

- Resonance in Syria, Iraq -

Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out three major military operations in northern Syria targeting PKK militants, which it sees as a strategic threat along its southern border.

Ankara has made clear it wants to see all PKK fighters disarmed wherever they are -- notably those in the US-backed SDF, which it sees as part of the PKK.

The SDF -- the bulk of which is made up of the Kurdish YPG -- spearheaded the fight that ousted ISIS extremists from Syria in 2019, and is seen by much of the West as crucial to preventing an extremist resurgence.

Last week, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi welcomed Ocalan's call for the PKK to lay down its weapons but said it "does not concern our forces" in northeastern Syria.

But Türkiye disagrees.

Since the toppling of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in December, Ankara has threatened military action unless YPG militants are expelled, deeming them to be a regional security problem.

"Our fundamental approach is that all terrorist organizations should disarm and be dissolved in Iraq and Syria, whether they are called the PKK, the YPG or the SDF," Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AKP, said on Monday.

Ocalan's call also affects Iraq, with the PKK leadership holed up in the mountainous north where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years.

Turkish forces have also established numerous bases there, souring Ankara's relationship with Baghdad.

"We don't want either the PKK or the Turkish army on our land... Iraq wants everyone to withdraw," Iraq's national security adviser Qassem al-Araji told AFP.

"Turkish forces are (in Iraq) because of the PKK's presence," he said, while pointing out that Türkiye had "said more than once that it has no territorial ambitions in Iraq".