Senior Republican lawmakers in Congress revealed the reasons for the removal of Robert Malley, the US special envoy to Iran, from his post, demanding more information about the case, in a letter they addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Malley’s exclusion has raised controversy since April 2023, when lawmakers expressed their anger at the administration’s evasiveness regarding the reasons for suspending him without pay and canceling his security clearance in June 2023.
Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul sent a letter to Blinken, demanding a detailed explanation of the reasons for Malley’s arrest and investigation.
“Specifically, we understand that Mr. Malley’s security clearance was suspended because he allegedly transferred classified documents to his personal email account and downloaded these documents to his personal cell phone. It is unclear to whom he intended to provide these documents, but it is believed that a hostile cyber actor was able to gain access to his email and/or phone and obtain the downloaded information,” the letter read.
The two congressmen stressed that the allegations were extremely disturbing and required immediate answers.
“Due to the Department’s evasiveness and lack of transparency, we have worked to glean information from other sources. Our own investigations have uncovered the following information and troubling allegations. We ask that you confirm the information we have learned,” they stated.
McCaul and Risch asked Blinken to answer a long list of questions, including whether the alleged hackers who accessed his phone were affiliated with Iran.
“The allegations we have been privy to are extremely troubling and demand immediate answers,” the letter concluded. “These allegations have a substantial impact on our national security and people should be held accountable swiftly and strongly.”
Although Malley remains on unpaid leave, he was not expelled from the position of presidential envoy to Iran, but rather placed under surveillance.
In October, the Oversight and Accountability Committee of the US House of Representatives requested documents from the US State Department, and summoned Malley to testify in the case.
In a letter addressed to Blinken, the committee pointed to a former member of Malley’s Iran negotiating team, Ariane Tabatabai, who was in close contact with the Iranian regime for years.
“Tabatabai participated in the regime-backed Iran Experts Initiative (IEI), which was launched by senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials in the spring of 2014. The alleged purpose of the initiative was to cultivate a network of European and US researchers that could be used to bolster Iran’s image on global security matters, especially its nuclear program,” the letter read.
