Biden’s First Foreign Policy Blunder Could Be on Iran
The administration needs to send a consistent message to the regime about its misbehavior.
Negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, March 2015. Robert Malley is second from right.
Photographer: BRIAN SNYDER/AFPPresident Joe Biden has done a good job so far of calming the anxieties of allies that the U.S. will rush into negotiations to re-enter the flawed 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Appointing Robert Malley as special envoy to Iran could change that.
On Iran, other Biden advisers have been reassuring. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said last month that it was “really up to Iran” whether the U.S. would re-enter the deal, meaning Iran must be in compliance with it before the U.S. lifts sanctions. Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, told the Senate that he wanted a “longer and stronger” nuclear deal with Iran and pledged to consult regional allies such as Israel and the Arab Gulf monarchies if and when negotiations with Iran resumed.