Gabriel Noronha, who worked on Iran policy at the US State Department under US President Donald Trump, was fired for speaking out against the then-American leader following the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill. Now, with a Democratic administration in the White House, he's warning against the Iran nuclear deal.
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In a conversation with Israel Hayom, Noronha emphasized the lack of trust in the man leading the US negotiation team in Vienna, Robert Malley, and said US President Joe Biden wasn't calling the shots in the talks.
"I can't say more than I've already said, but these are people familiar with details of the accord," Noronha said. The former US official discovered worrying details about the coming nuclear deal on Twitter last week. He said he believes a deal could be signed "today."
According to Noronha, delegation members are very worried about the deal on the table, which he said was "very dangerous" for US national security as well as regional security. He noted Congress would not have the opportunity to review the details of the accord and would not be able to do anything about it.
Noronha, who worked under then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, described the deal as a grand "gesture" toward the Iranian regime.
According to Noronha, the new deal includes sanctions relief that would see restrictions rolled back on a number of former senior Tehran officials who were allegedly involved in terrorist activity in the past.
One such Iranian official is the former head of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council and Revolutionary Guards Corps Commander Mohsen Rezai. The International Criminal Police Organization, commonly known as Interpol, published a red order for Rezai in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded hundreds.
Another official set to see sanctions relief thanks to the accord is Hossein Deghan, who served as IRGC commander of Tehran during the 1983 attack in Beirut that killed 241 US troops.
According to Noronha, the coming Iran nuclear deal will be "far weaker and far more dangerous than the original accord" signed under former US President Barack Obama in 2015 as world powers have agreed to rescind far more sanctions while "asking far less" of Tehran in return.
Noronha's criticism is aimed at senior Biden administration officials and US Special Envoy to Iran Malley, who is conducting the nuclear talks in Vienna, in particular.
A number of senior delegation officials have quit the team in protest of the White House's approach to the talks. One of the officials to walk out was US Deputy Special Envoy to Iran Richard Nephew.
Describing the resignations as "shocking," Noronha said another two delegation members had dropped out of the talks in late 2021 out of concern over Malley's approach. Noting it was "unprecedented" for delegation members to quit in protest of leadership, Noronha said a lot of people at the US State Department believe Malley is a weak negotiator who is damaging US national security.
Asked why Biden was insisting on signing a deal, Noronha said, "I don't think Biden" is in control of the talks. "He's focused on China, on Russia, and on domestic" issues. "I don't think he's giving it a lot of attention" but has rather delegated authority to Secretary [of State] Blinken and Malley. "I don't think he's making the decisions. I think Malley is making them," Noronha said.
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