The controversial suspension of the US special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, has raised questions about the future of the negotiations.
While Iran’s pro-government media commented cautiously on the sudden announcement, stressing that it was an indication of an imminent breakthrough in the negotiations, Iranian analysts unanimously agreed that this development “will not change” the policy of the US administration towards Tehran.
On Thursday, the US State Department said that Malley was “on leave”.
“Rob Malley is on leave and Abram Paley is serving as acting special envoy for Iran and leading the department’s work in this area,” the department’s spokesman, Matthew Miller, said in the statement.
Iranian officials involved in the nuclear talks did not comment on the announcement, but most newspapers focused in particular on a report by the New York Times about Malley’s “less prominent role” in the negotiations during the recent months.
The Iran newspaper, the government’s mouthpiece, wrote that Malley’s “exit” in the midst of accelerating developments related to the nuclear negotiations, “indicates disagreements among US foreign policymakers on the Islamic Republic.”
The newspaper considered that the US move “was not surprising”.
“Changes [in the US negotiating team] so far have shown that the United States has shifted away from tested methods and is trying its luck with more pragmatic diplomats,” it added.
The IRNA news agency stated that the decision “may increase the possibility that the US government has restricted some people in order to reach an agreement with Tehran.”
It continued: “During Malley’s absence, the news of the prisoner exchange, as well as the release of Iran’s frozen assets, gained strength.”
The government-run Mehr Agency asked whether Malley’s suspension was a “tactical change” in the negotiating team, but underestimated the impact of his absence on the course of the negotiations.
