Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday rejected any new negotiations or changes to the participants in Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, after French President Emmanuel Macron said any new talks should include Saudi Arabia.
The remarks came after the White House confirmed that veteran diplomat Robert Malley was named special US envoy for Iran. Malley, who was a key member of former president Barack Obama’s Iran Deal negotiating team, is a controversial figure in Israel, where he is viewed as soft on Tehran and tough on Jerusalem.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted by state media as saying: “The nuclear accord is a multilateral international agreement ratified by U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which is non-negotiable and parties to it are clear and unchangeable,”
President Joe Biden’s new administration has said it will rejoin the deal, which the Trump administration left in 2018, but only after Tehran resumes full compliance with its terms.
An Israel official said “it’s clear the Iranians are playing hardball, which is why the pressure on them cannot let up.
“There’s only a hope the Iranians will compromise if they believe that’s the only way the pressure will be lifted,” the official added. “If pressure is lifted prematurely, one can expect no concessions from the Iranians whatsoever.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration would consult with its allies in the Middle East, including Israel, before engaging in talks with Iran. Israeli officials have expressed hope that this means there will be a positive dialogue moving forward, and emphasized the need to completely stop Iran’s nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia and its ally the United Arab Emirates have said that Gulf Arab states should be involved in any renewed talks, which they say should also address Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for proxies around the Middle East.
Macron stressed in his comments on Friday, cited by Al Arabiya television, the need to avoid what he called the mistake of excluding other countries in the region when the 2015 deal was negotiated.
Saudi Arabia, which is locked in several proxy wars in the region with Tehran including in Yemen, supported Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.
Macron said any new talks on the nuclear deal with Iran would be very “strict” and that a very short time remained to prevent Tehran from having a nuclear weapon.
Khatibzadeh said Macron should “show self-restraint.”
“If French officials are worried about their huge arms sales to Persian Gulf Arab states, they better reconsider their policies,” Khatibzadeh said. “French arms, along with other Western weapons, not only cause the massacre of thousands of Yemenis, but are also the main cause of regional instability.”
In Jerusalem and in Washington, Malley’s appointment was preceded with controversy.
Malley strongly favors negotiations with Iran and spoke out against former secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s conditions for lifting sanctions on Iran – which include demands such as full transparency of its nuclear program, ending uranium enrichment, releasing US citizens and ending support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
He also has a long history of positions that have been challenging for Israel.
After the 2000 Camp David talks, during which Malley was special assistant to then-president Bill Clinton for Arab-Israeli affairs, he contradicted Clinton and his top Mideast peace negotiator Dennis Ross who said Arafat walked away from then-prime minister Ehud Barak’s peace offer. Malley said Barak’s offer was a setup, a claim that lent credence to the narrative that Israel did not want peace. The collapse of the 2000 negotiations were soon followed by the Second Intifada, in which Palestinian terrorists killed over 1,000 Israelis.
Malley’s association with the 2008 Obama campaign ended after he turned out to have held talks with Hamas representatives, but in 2014, Obama appointed him to the National Security Council.
Israeli officials would not comment on the appointment on the record. One senior official said last week, anticipating that Malley would be chosen as envoy: “We know him, but in the end, the one to authorize the agreement will be the president. The president will decide the policy.”
An Israeli former official involved in the Iran portfolio said: “If the administration were serious about meeting our concerns about the Iran nuclear deal they wouldn’t appoint the person most likely to arouse them.”
US Sen. Tom Cotton tweeted last week that it is “deeply troubling that President Biden would consider appointing Rob Malley to direct Iran policy. Malley has a long track record of sympathy for the Iranian regime and animus towards Israel. The ayatollahs wouldn’t believe their luck if he is selected.”
Xinyue Wang, an American imprisoned in Iran in 2016, tweeted that Malley “played no positive role in facilitating my release” and posited that Malley’s appointment would send a message to Iran that is opposite to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statements that the US seeks to strengthen the JCPOA and stand up for human rights.
Gilead Sher, chief of staff for Barak when he was prime minister, tweeted that Malley “will make a superb Iran envoy. We had our difference over the years, however, they affected neither trust nor friendship.”
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