Monday, March 7, 2022

'Biden not managing negotiations with Iran'

Gabriel Noronha, a former Iran official at the US State Department, has warned of the dangers of a new nuclear deal.

Noronha, who was responsible for the Iran policy during the years 2018-2020, under former US President Donald Trump, told Israel Hayom that US President Joe Biden "is not making decisions" on the new nuclear agreement.

"I cannot say more than what I have already said, but we are talking about people who are experts on the details of the accord," he told Israel Hayom.

Last week, Noronha tweeted concerning details about the agreement with Iran - and he believes that the agreement may be signed as early as "today," Monday, March 7.

"They are very concerned about what is about to be signed," he warned. "This is very dangerous and the American Congress will not have an opportunity to go over it and do something about it. This is very dangerous to the US' national security and to regional security, and it is a great gesture to the Iranian regime.

The agreement, he said, is "much weaker and more dangerous than the original accord. We are compromising on many more sanctions and asking much less in exchange."

Robert Malley, the US Special Representative for Iran, who is the US negotiator, is seen by many in the State Department as "a weak negotiator, who is harming the US' national security," Noronha added.

When asked why Biden is insisting on a deal, Noronha said he "does not think Biden is managing the negotiations. He is concentrating on China, Russia, and internal matters. I do not think he is paying a lot of attention, but has delegated authority to Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken and Malley. I don't think he is making decisions, I think Malley is making them."

The new agreement will include many relaxations of sanctions, in a process which will remove limitations from several former Iranian officials who in the past were involved in terrorist activities.

One of those officials, Mohsen RezaeeSecretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, who was involved in the 1994 attack on the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which left 85 dead. Another is Hossein Dehghan, who headed the Revolutionary Guards at the time of the 1983 attack on a Marines base in Beirut, Lebanon, which left 241 US soldiers dead.