We’ve spent a fair amount of time here complaining about the absolute shroud of secrecy surrounding Joe Biden’s ongoing negotiations with Iran, seeking to bring us back into the so-called “deal” that Donald Trump took us out of. We rarely have any indication of what sort of negotiations have been taking place, but the absolute lack of any concrete progress (assuming you believe getting back into some sort of contract with Iran is “progress”) should probably give us a good idea of how it’s been going. There have been some changes to the negotiating team recently, however, and word of that shakeup has begun to leak out. It turns out that the deputy special envoy for Iran, Richard Nephew, a senior member of the team walked away from the process in December. Last week he left the State Department entirely and plans to return to academia in the private sector. Reports indicate that he was frustrated with the way the negotiations were being handled, though the State Department is denying that. (Free Beacon)

Following reports that a member of its negotiating team quit the administration last week over opposition to the Biden administration’s concessions to Iran, the State Department is defending its ongoing diplomacy with Tehran.

Richard Nephew served as the deputy special envoy for Iran before leaving that post on Dec. 6 “due to a sincere difference of opinion concerning policy,” according to a Tuesday tweet by Nephew announcing his departure from the administration. He briefly continued to work at the State Department after leaving the Iran team last year.

A State Department spokesman, speaking only on background, defended the ongoing talks with Iran and told the Washington Free Beacon that Nephew’s positions have been mischaracterized in the media.

Obviously, the State Department wants to paint this over as no big deal. After all, you wouldn’t want people to think that these negotiations are being so badly botched that our own group is growing despondent, right? (More on that in a moment.) Nephew took to Twitter recently to offer his own take and caution people not to read too much into this.

Given there has been some interest in the last few weeks, I should clear up a few things. I departed the U.S. Iran team on 6 December due to a sincere difference of opinion concerning policy. I departed the State Department last week. 1/3

— Richard Nephew (@RichardMNephew) February 15, 2022

Nephew appears to be attempting to handle all of this diplomatically (which one might expect from a diplomat) and with an eye to his future career prospects. But he clearly states that he left the team because of “a sincere difference of opinion concerning policy.” That sounds very different than the State Department spokesperson’s characterization of it as “some people” wanting “to move faster on some issues and slower on others.”

Nephew goes on in his Twitter thread to reiterate that it was “a privilege to serve in the U.S. government again and for the Biden Administration specifically.” He seems to give a hint regarding his motives when he says it would be an honor to be considered for another role in government in the future, but for now, he shall return to academia. That’s how one politely leaves a sinking ship while hoping to preserve a shot at a seat on the next boat.

Nephew was serving under Robert Malley, who heads the Iranian negotiating team for Biden. Malley was the Senior Director for Iran under the Obama/Biden administration and seemed like a natural fit for the role under this administration. But he has managed to botch the negotiations so badly that the Iranians have done little but laugh at him. We previously provided a rundown of just how badly the negotiations have gone under Malley.

So what makes more sense to you? Option one is that Nephew only wanted to go “faster or slower” than others, but left for some other reason entirely. The other is that he saw just what a disaster Malley’s approach had been and didn’t want to be part of a failing, flailing effort that would eventually be viewed as a significant foreign policy disaster. Given those choices, if I was in Nephew’s shoes, I might want to “return to academia” for a while myself.