The Biden administration faced growing pressure Tuesday to explain the mystery swirling around its top Iran envoy, Robert Malley, whose disappearance from his key position inside the State Department has plunged America’s Iran policy into uncertainty and raised questions about whether the White House’s diplomatic outreach to Tehran may have jeopardized U.S. national security.

House GOP sources told The Washington Times on Tuesday they’ve gotten few answers from the State Department about Mr. Malley, who was at the center of the administration‘s diplomacy with Iran before reportedly being placed on unpaid leave and having his security clearance suspended on June 26.

Mr. Malley was the face of the administration’s outreach to Iran, charged with trying to salvage at least a portion of the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran that was repudiated by President Trump in 2018. Mr. Biden came to office in 2021 pledging to revive the multinational accord, but has been repeatedly frustrated in efforts to reach a deal.

Republican sources said they may soon demand a classified briefing from State Department officials to address the host of unanswered questions about Mr. Malley’s situation, including how long his security clearance has been under review and whether government officials willfully withheld information from Congress about Mr. Malley’s status earlier this year.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, Texas Republican, said over the weekend it “would be treason” if Mr. Malley is found to have leaked classified secrets to foreign adversaries, underscoring just how serious the situation may be and once again casting a spotlight on the close contacts Mr. Malley has cultivated with influential Iranians as he sought diplomatic leverage to negotiate.

The furor has gripped both sides of the Capitol. In the Senate, 18 Republicans signed a letter Monday seeking answers to numerous questions about Mr. Malley and his status, including when exactly Mr. Malley was placed on leave, how long he continued to work on Iran policy after his security clearance was suspended, and whether he returned all classified devices to the State Department.

“Given the role and responsibilities of the special envoy for Iran and the position’s importance to securing U.S. national security interests, we were alarmed to learn that the U.S. Department of State has suspended Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley’s clearance, is conducting an investigation into Malley’s handling of classified information, and only recently placed Malley on leave without pay,” the letter reads in part. “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 … with regard to the suspension of [Mr. Malley’s] access to classified information.”

Asked about Mr. Malley’s curious situation, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan praised the envoy’s character but punted all questions to the State Department.

Mr. Malley, Mr. Sullivan told CBS’s “Face the Nation,” “has served multiple administrations faithfully and well. He is a public servant. He is a diplomat. He is engaged in high-level, high-stakes diplomacy for a long time. And he’s someone who a lot of us, including myself, have deep respect for.”

But as to his “current circumstances,” Mr. Sullivan added, “I have to refer you to the State Department on that.”

Mr. Malley’s exit, even if it turns out to be temporary, has thrust President Biden’s Iran policy into flux at a critical moment. With Mr. Malley and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the helm, the president pressed to resurrect the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, which limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from punishing U.S. and international economic sanctions. 

After Mr. Trump unilaterally renounced the deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran, Mr. Malley was tapped by President Biden to head up the effort to revive it. Despite nearly two years of diplomacy, negotiations broke down last year amid Iran’s brutal crackdown on domestic protesters, its military backing of Russia in its war with Ukraine, and continued assaults on U.S. troops in the Middle East by militias with direct links to Tehran.

Iran has also sought guarantees that future American administrations will not follow Mr. Trump’s lead and reject the deal, guarantees U.S. negotiators say they cannot provide.

Private conversations

Mr. Malley, who was a lead negotiator in the Obama administration on the original JCPOA, has reportedly sought to revive the effort by meeting multiple times behind the scenes with Iran‘s U.N. ambassador in recent months. It’s that behind-the-scenes work that seems to be at issue now, with questions swirling around what sensitive information, if any, he may have revealed during private conversations.

Mr. Malley has said little about the ordeal, though he has seemed to deny any wrongdoing. He told Politico via text message on June 29 that he had been informed his security clearance was under review but had personally not been provided any further information.

“I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon,” the envoy wrote at the time. “In the meantime, I am on leave.”

State Department officials have said Mr. Malley was the subject of an investigation into the mishandling of classified information, according to The Associated Press, which reported in late June that the Iran envoy’s whereabouts were raising questions since he had skipped a classified congressional briefing on Iran on May 16.

The State Department this week offered little detail on the matter, but in a statement to the Washington Times, a spokesperson confirmed that Mr. Malley remains on leave. Officials said they could not give further information about Mr. Malley‘s status because of privacy considerations.

The State Department‘s deputy special envoy for Iran, Abram Paley, is leading the administration‘s day-to-day Iran policy, the spokesperson said. Mr. Malley also appears to have been scrubbed from social media accounts related to the State Department’s Iran portfolio. 

While a favorite of some in the U.S. foreign policy establishment, Mr. Malley has long been scrutinized by Republicans.

The Washington Times reported in 2021 that Mr. Malley, along with former Secretary of State John Kerry continued to meet with Iranian officials after former President Obama had left office. 

Some of the meetings were with then-Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in an apparent bid to counter the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy on Iran.

Despite its outreach to Iran, the Biden administration has upheld the State Department‘s long-standing designation of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism and kept in place a Trump-era designation of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Officials have also said Mr. Biden would use force if necessary to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.

• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.