Now that President Biden’s point man on Iran, Robert Malley, has been sidelined, will Washington curb its enthusiasm for appeasement? Also, will the administration be more transparent about hush-hush ties with the mullahs?

Mr. Malley was suspended without pay on Thursday and his security clearance revoked following what is widely reported as allegations of mishandling of classified information. His dealings with the Islamic Republic, which date back to the Clinton and Obama administrations, have made him a lightning rod for critics of Mr. Biden’s Iran policies and Iranian-Americans who oppose the Islamist regime.

“I had long complained to the Biden administration for that Malley was too sympathetic to the Islamic Republic,” a journalist and activist, Masih Alinejad, tweeted Thursday. “While we wait for all the facts to be released, I reiterate my call for this administration to develop a new comprehensive Iran strategy that will put promoting human rights and democracy at its heart.”

Ms. Alinejad also urged the administration to “speedily provide an explanation” on Mr. Malley, “now that he is under investigation for possible security related matters.”  

A Washington whispering campaign on the envoy’s whereabouts had raged long before the news of his suspension broke Thursday. Widely considered the most pro-Tehran member of the Biden administration, Mr. Malley had disappeared from the public eye for months.

A new push for a series of “understandings” with Tehran has been conducted in Oman by the National Security Agency’s Brett McGurk rather than by Mr. Malley. 

CNN has reported that Mr. Malley’s access to classified material was revoked at least two months ago. When asked, though, Department of State representatives have said he had been on leave for personal family reasons. The last posting on Mr. Malley’s official Twitter account was on June 2. 

Details of the investigation are sketchy. CNN reported that the probe is being conducted by the state department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, but according to the website Iran International — which was first to report on Mr. Malley’s suspension on Thursday — the FBI is also involved. 

Despite numerous questions from reporters, the state deparement’s spokesman, Matthew Miller, was evasive as late as Thursday afternoon. Later in the day, after Mr. Malley himself said he was on suspension, Mr. Miller released a terse statement: “Rob Malley is on leave and Abram Paley is serving as acting Special Envoy for Iran and leading the Department’s work in this area.”

For the last few weeks, Mr. Malley reportedly remained in contact with families of Americans held hostage in Iran. Was he involved, then, in a key component of the current negotiations with the Tehran regime?

Last winter, Mr. Malley became the first Biden administration official to negotiate directly with a Tehran regime official, conducting a series of secret meetings at New York with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani. Did these meetings continue even after Mr. Malley’s security clearance has been revoked and an investigation launched?

Such questions evoke the Nixon-era query about what  the president knew and when he knew about it. “The key question now is at what time the administration knew about Malley’s situation and at what time did the investigation begin,” an Iran watcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Behnam Ben Taleblu, tells the Sun. 

“It is imperative that the Biden administration disclose how long it has withheld from Congress that consequential diplomatic engagements have been led by someone other than Mr. Malley, and when the alleged mishandling of classified information took place,” the think tank United Against Nuclear Iran said in a statement. 

UANI’s policy director, Jason Brodsky, noted that the House of Representatives has not conducted an open hearing on Iran policy since 2020, and the last time the Senate had such a hearing was 2022.

“Congress must insist that President Biden comply with federal law and afford it the opportunity to review and approve any agreement or so-called ‘understanding’ with the Islamic Republic,” UANI’s statement said. 

On the campaign trail, Mr. Biden promised to renew the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and improve on it. Since then, the administration has consistently lowered its demands of Iran, even as Tehran diplomats kept rejecting Washington’s offers. Current talks are about an unwritten agreement that would shower the mullahs with billions of dollars in return for a freeze on uranium enrichment at a near-bomb grade of 60 percent purity. 

Mr. Malley has been targeted by critics in and out of the administration. Two state department officials quit his team in February 2022 because of “sincere disagreements” over policy. Yet, the envoy, who is a childhood friend of Secretary Blinken, remained. Will his departure now make a difference in a policy that is ultimately guided by the president?

Mr. Biden “needs to answer not just for Malley but for his entire Iran policy, which lifted pressure on Tehran even as Iran attacked our troops & allies & took American hostages,” Senator Hagerty tweeted Friday. “Why does Biden insist on an Iran policy that makes America less safe?”

Mr. Malley’s absence “will likely complicate the politics surrounding any diplomacy with the Islamic Republic, but I don’t think it will result in a policy change” UANI’s Mr. Brodsky told the Sun.