Malley, on leave from US Iran envoy post, to teach at Princeton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Robert Malley, who in June was put on unpaid leave from his post as U.S. special envoy for Iran because his security clearance is under review, will teach a course on foreign policy at Princeton University this fall, Princeton said on Wednesday.

Malley stepped back from his State Department role shortly before Iran’s release of five U.S. citizens to house arrest as part of a deal under which they would eventually leave Iran and $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korea would be unfrozen.

U.S. President Joe Biden tapped Malley in January 2021 to try to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, under which Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program to make it harder to obtain a nuclear weapon in return for economic sanctions relief.

Malley was not able to resurrect the agreement, which then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, arguing that its terms were too favorable to Iran and that it failed to place sufficient restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran denies its program is designed to obtain a weapon.

Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs said in a statement that Malley would teach a graduate course this fall on foreign policy decision-making and one or two undergraduate courses on some combination of diplomacy, negotiation, and foreign policy in the spring.

“While I am on leave from the State Department, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with the next generation of public servants,” Malley said in the statement. “I look forward to my time at Princeton and returning to government service in due course.”

It is unclear when or how the review of Malley’s security clearance may be concluded. According to media reports, Malley’s clearance was suspended amid an investigation of his handling of classified material.

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