The United States envoy on Iran affairs, Robert Malley, allegedly held multiple meetings in New York with Tehran's U.N. ambassador Amir Saeid Jalil Iravani, which the U.S. State Department did not deny, according to an Iran International report.
If true, the face-to-face meeting would be the first reported direct meeting between Washington and Tehran since the Biden administration came into office and offered negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.
In response to questions, the State Department did confirm that messages are being delivered to the Islamic Republic of Iran, even though the 2015 nuclear deal is not on the White House's agenda.
Responding to questions submitted by Iran International this week, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the administration has the means to deliver "specific and firm messages to Iran when it is in America’s interest to do so."
When asked about the information obtained by the Department of State, U.S. Special Representative for Iran Robert Malley met with Iravani at least "three times in the last two months."
According to the media outlet, they were not given details about the delivery of messages but did say that they were conducted in close coordination with allies and partners.
The State Department did not deny nor confirm Malley's meetings with Iravani but underlined that the U.S. has its channels to communicate messages to the Islamic Republic.
When asked to confirm that they did not deny the meetings between Mr. Iravani and Mr. Malley in recent months in New York, the media outlet received a second response from a spokesperson saying that the department has the means to "deliver messages to Iran when it is in our interest to do so."
"I am not going to get into details about how we deliver these messages, but we do so in close coordination with allies and partners and make no apologies for delivering them firmly and consistently," the spokesperson said.
Concerning the content of the message, spokesperson Ned Price said that the administration has "consistently conveyed three messages: stop killing peaceful protesters, stop selling weapons to Russia to kill Ukrainians, and release the Americans you have wrongfully detained. We also use any available opportunity to make clear that we will take necessary steps to protect American citizens."
Following the protests last September in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, Iranian Americans and Congressional Representatives throughout the U.S. called on the Biden administration to punish the Islamic regime for their brutal crackdowns and cancel negotiations with the ayatollahs over their nuclear program.
As the regime continues to crack down on protests, the administration has stopped talks with Tehran but has yet to officially announce the end of negotiations.
Iranian Americans have also called for Malley's resignation, claiming that he has shown clemency to the terrorist regime in Tehran and has opted to work closely with organizations close to the mullahs.
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