US House Committee Chairman Demands Answers On Iran Envoy

US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul has demanded more information from the White House about the status of US Iran envoy Rob Malley.

Iran International first reported Thursday that Malley has long been absent from his job and his security clearance status was under review. The State Department after hours of delays finally admitted that Malley had been on leave. Quickly information emerged that on the same day his paid leave had turned into “unpaid leave.”

“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,” the HFAC chairman wrote. “These reports raise serious concerns both regarding Malley’s conduct and whether the State Department misled Congress and the American public.”

Malley had been conspicuously absent from a Congressional briefing in May and the State Department had said that he was on personal leave due to the illness of a family member. The question remains as to why the administration did not tell the truth to Congress about his security clearance issue.

Malley’s deputy Abram Paley has already been appointed as acting Iran envoy by the State Department.

Many suspect that as the administration was holding secret talks with Islamic Republic of Iran in Oman and perhaps elsewhere, they did not want Malley’s issue to come into the open, since he has been at the forefront of President Biden’s efforts to make a new deal with Tehran.

“The Department’s failure to inform Congress of this matter demonstrates at best a lack of candor, and at worst represents deliberate and potentially unlawful misinformation,” the chairman continued. “Given the gravity of the situation, it is imperative that the Department expeditiously provide a full and transparent accounting of the circumstances surrounding Special Envoy Malley’s clearance suspension and investigation and the Department’s statements to Congress regarding Special Envoy Malley.”

Iranian Americans have been urging lawmakers to demand answers on this issue and also on reports about the administration trying to make a deal with Iran that would release billions of dollars in frozen money for release of three individuals held in Iran as leverage against the United States.

Earlier this week, before the news about Malley’s absence surfaced Iranian American activists sent a letter to McCaul asking him to subpoena Malley over his history of secret engagements with high-ranking Islamic Republic regime officials with ill will towards the US, as well as his intent on pursuing a policy of appeasement in favor of the biggest state sponsor of terrorism.

“Mr. Malley’s conduct is not acceptable to us as Americans of Iranian origin, especially while we witness people inside Iran being slaughtered by the regime in the streets and tortured in prisons by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a US-designated terrorist organization,” read the letter.

Some have commented that Malley is a childhood friend of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and this might have been a factor in keeping the reason for his absence out of public view.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), an advocacy group, also called Friday for a Congressional investigation regarding lack of transparency by the White House over Malley’s suspension.

“It is imperative that the Biden administration disclose how long it has withheld from Congress that consequential diplomatic engagements have been led by someone other than Mr. Malley and when the alleged mishandling of classified information took place, a statement issued Friday by UANI said.