US House Committee Issues Ultimatum Over Malley's Mess

In a letter Friday addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, the senators raised the issue of China’s increasing oil imports from Iran, while US sanctions imposed in 2018 and expanded in 2019 prohibit third parties from buying Iranian oil and oil products.

“Despite sanctions, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has purchased roughly $47 billion in Iranian oil since President Biden took office. Iran's ghost armada, the regime's primary tool for illicit oil trade, has grown from 60 vessels to a staggering 338 vessels since 2021,” the letter says.

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The letter was signed by Senators Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, James Lankford, Rick Scott, Bill Hagerty, James Risch, John Barrasso, and Jerry Moran.

Critics for a long time have been accusing the Biden administration of not seriously enforcing sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump, while negotiating with Tehran to revive the 2015 JCPOA nuclear accord. They argue that a substantial increase in Iranian oil exports to China occurred when President Joe Biden assumed office. This in turn made Iran more intransigent in nuclear talks that began in April 2021 and reached an impasse last September. 

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While Iran was selling less than 250,000 barrels per day in 2019 and 2020, its daily shipments have now surpassed 1.5 barrels according to industry sources.

The Senators argued that lax sanctions enforcement enriches the Islamic Republic which in turn provides more support to its militant proxies across the region, enables the regime to suppress domestic dissent, attack US troops and assist Russia in its war on Ukraine.

“The administration's lack of sanctions and sanctions enforcement is directly undercutting American policy objectives in Europe, the Middle East, and beyond,” the Republican lawmakers underscored.

They asked the secretaries of state and treasury to devise a strategy to limit Iran’s petrochemical exports. “This strategy must include additional sanctions against PRC individuals and entities that continue to purchase, refine, or otherwise deal in sanctioned Iranian-origin oil.”

The senators urged the administration to “immediately enforce existing sanctions…and expand sanctions designations to include those who store Iranian oil, ship-to-ship oil transfer operators, individuals and entities, ports and port operators, and refineries and refinery operators - particularly in the PRC…Doing so will deprive the Iranian regime of critical revenues that they would use to harm U.S. interests and repress the Iranian people.”

There have also been bipartisan efforts in both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the past year to push the Biden administration to be more forceful against Iran.

The Solidifying Iran Sanction Act sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and co-sponsored by 24 lawmakers in the House and Senate including Democrats was introduced in May. The bill aimed to give permanent authorization to the president to implement sanctions on Iran by lifting a sunset clause on Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) of 1996.

On June 22, 33 US senators, or one-third of the Senate, joined to introduce the Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act (ISRRA – S.488) to “make it abundantly clear to the Biden Administration that any agreement made with Iran that involves sanctions relief must be submitted for Congressional review,” said Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn) who led the effort.

Iran International reported June 29 that the administration’s Iran envoy Rob Malley was suspended due to a security investigation. This has further angered many lawmakers who say the State Department kept them in the dark.

The office of the US Special Envoy for Iran showed its first signs of life following days of media storm about circumstances surrounding former envoy’s dismissal on Friday.

The official twitter account of the mission said: “The Office of the Special Envoy for Iran and the entire team at the State Department remain engaged in implementing our policy on Iran.” The account had been inactive since early June, about a month before Malley’s suspension was announced. 

The Biden administration and the State Department are under fire by the Congress, which was kept in the dark about the developments around Robert Malley, including his unpaid leave of absence, suspension of his security clearance and the FBI investigation over his mishandling of confidential information. 

The account, whose profile picture has been changed to Deputy Special Envoy Abram Paley – Malley's replacement – added: “We continue our work with allies and partners to constrain Iran’s destabilizing behavior, defend human rights, encourage de-escalation, and promote a stable, prosperous, and more integrated Middle East.”

Malley’s suspension was first reported by Iran International on June 29, and formally announced the following day by Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the US State Department, calling it "a leave of absence”, adding that his duties would be temporarily assumed by his deputy, Abram Paley. However, it is believed he had been suspended as early as April.

The development came a day after a group of 18 Republican senators called for a probe into the handling of Malley’s security clearance investigation by the State Department. 

In an editorial on Thursday, the WSJ argued that the Biden administration’s criticisms of Netanyahu’s judicial reforms constitute interference in Israel’s internal affairs, “in which the US President has no business.”

The Journal argued that Biden’s negative comments about Netanyahu’s policies advance the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“While Mr. Biden undermines the Netanyahu government, Hamas and other Iranian proxies are gaining power in the West Bank, activating another front against Israel. The new wave of terrorism against Jewish civilians will set back the Palestinian cause but advance Iran’s,” the editorial said.

It also criticized Biden for his failure so far to expand the Abraham Accords because of his less than amicable posture toward Saudi Arabia.

“Perhaps most disappointing has been the failure to extend the Trump-brokered Abraham Accords. The Saudis are the prize, but Mr. Biden’s open hostility drove them to hedge their bets by signing a Chinese-brokered deal with Iran instead. Normalization with Israel may have to wait for a U.S. President interested in rallying a coalition to contain Tehran.”

The Wall Street Journal went on the highlight the Biden administration's failure to conclude a “longer and stronger” nuclear deal with Iran, and instead aim for “an unwritten, stopgap agreement “that would give Tehran tens of billions of dollars to sit on the precipice of nuclear breakout. Call it Hezbollah’s and Islamic Jihad’s lucky day.”

The editorial concluded by saying, “While Tehran escalates its proxy wars and whittles down U.S. nuclear demands, Mr. Biden carries out diplomatic offensives against Saudi Arabia and Israel.”

Spearheaded by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the group sent a letter to the State Department’s internal watchdog calling for investigation into the suspension of senior diplomat Robert Malley’s security clearance. 

“We write to request that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conduct an independent investigation into whether State Department officials complied with all appropriate laws and regulations—including policies and procedures described in the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual,” read the letter.

Congress was kept in the dark about the developments and was only informed about it when his replacement was announced. Malley’s suspension was first reported by Iran International June 29, and formally announced the following day by Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the US State Department, calling it "a leave of absence”, adding that his duties would be temporarily assumed by his deputy, Abram Paley. However, it is believed he had been suspended as early as April.

Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on foreign affairs, wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on June 30 seeking "a full and transparent accounting" about why Malley was suspended and was under investigation. The Senior Republican lawmaker slammed the responseas "absolutely unacceptable"

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"The Department is not in a position to provide further documents or information related to this personnel-security clearance matter," according to a copy of the correspondence.McCaul said, "Congress deserves to know exactly why the US Special Envoy (for) Iran had his security clearance suspended, was then suspended from his position, and now, according to news reports, is being investigated by the FBI," adding that he would ask the agency for a classified briefing next week.

In their letter to Diana Shaw, the acting inspector general of the Department of State, the senators outlined specific questions that must be answered “no later than Friday, July 21, 2023.”

The senators' questions mainly focused on details such as the exact date Malley’s unpaid leave started and when his security clearance was suspended or when or whether he has turned in all “Department-issued credentials that provide logical or physical access to classified systems or designated classified spaces/facilities." 

Several of their questions also pertained to the works of the State Department’s Iran Action Group, given that the Special Envoy is tasked with leading the taskforce. “After the State Department suspended Special Envoy Malley’s clearance, when and how were members of the Iran Action Group expressly directed not to discuss or otherwise share any classified information with Malley?” they asked. 

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Capitol Hill Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated with the Biden administration’s unwillingness to share information about the issue. Adding salt to the injury, an article by Tehran Times, a publication controlled by the Iranian regime, provided astonishing details about Malley's situation. This has led to concerns that the Iranian government knows more about the issue than US lawmakers. 

“You would think the administration would proactively inform Congress that the person in charge of this doesn’t have the clearances to do their job, and that never happened,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), one of the signatories of the letter and the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “It’s not good.”

Speaking to Iran International’s Arash Alaei this week, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) criticized the government for not being forthcoming. He said, "You have a totalitarian regime publishing all this information and knowing it, yet your own government won't be honest with us about it." 

He further stated, "It's ridiculous...I feel like I've been lied to... They (the administration) lie to us all the time on various issues, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, China... It's a pattern in this administration."

Republicans and some Democrats have been opposed to President Joe Biden's policy of negotiating with the Islamic Republic to revive the 2015 JCPOA agreement that former President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018. The talks came to a deadlock in September 2022, after 18 months of multilateral diplomacy.

Now with only about one year left from Biden’s first term, even Iran’s allies are not optimistic of resuscitating the comatose accord, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying Thursday, "I doubt it would be very realistic to expect this (revival of the JCPOA), with a new administration coming to power in the United States in a year’s time.”

"Who knows whether that administration will be Democratic or Republican. And nobody can guarantee that this new administration would refrain from using the trick of withdrawing from the agreement again," he added.

“We must absolutely not be fooled by the cynicism and bad intentions of certain countries, which never hesitate in the face of instrumentalization or disinformation”, added Boone during a Senate speech on Wednesday.

“In some countries, the images of the events are used for the benefit of the propaganda of the regimes and we have systematically responded to these malevolence, in particular to the Azerbaijani, Turkish or Iranian remarks”, she continued.

In early July, Iran’s foreign ministy spokesman Nasser Kanaani called on the French government and police "to take into account the demands of the protesters while exercising restraint and avoiding violence.”

In response, the spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry slammed Iran's record of killing and blinding protesters.

Referring to the protests which erupted in France following the death in police hands of a young Muslim, Anne-Claire Legendre said: “We understand your concern for human rights and the lives of French citizens ... and for this reason, we will not kill anyone with a weapon of war, nor will we shoot an eye to blind it!”

Legendre was referring to the killing of hundreds of protesters by the Iranian regime in the months following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September. The Islamic Republic security forces also systematically targeted protesters’ eyes.