By Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump is now considering tapping Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, to be a special envoy for Iran, according to two people familiar with the transition plans.
“He’s definitely in the running,” said a person familiar with transition deliberations, who asked not to be identified.
No final decisions on either personnel or strategy on Iran have been made official yet by Trump, including whether to slap fresh sanctions on the country, pursue diplomacy or both in order to halt their nuclear program.
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Neither Trump’s team nor Grenell responded to requests for comment. Trump’s plans for the role have not previously been reported.
But his consideration of a key ally for such a posting sends a signal to the region that the new U.S. president may be open to talks with a country he has previously threatened and whose elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have sought to assassinate him, according to the U.S. government. Iran has denied the claim.
In the role, Grenell is expected to be tasked with speaking with countries in and beyond the region about the Iran issue as well as taking Tehran’s temperature on possible negotiations, said one of the people.
Iran‘s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is viewed as relatively moderate, said following Trump’s election that Tehran must “deal with the U.S.” and “manage” relations with its arch-foe.
Iran has suffered a series of strategic setbacks, including Israel’s assault on Tehran’s proxy militias Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and the ouster of Iranian ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
But tensions remain high more than a year after Hamas attacked southern Israel, launching the Gaza war. Meanwhile, other Iranian proxies have attacked U.S., Israeli and other Western targets, and Tehran has accelerated its nuclear program while limiting the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s ability to monitor it.
It’s not the first job Trump has considered for Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany, a special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations, and as acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s 2017-2021 term.
After campaigning for Trump in the lead up to the Nov. 5 election, he was a top contender to be secretary of state and for special envoy for the Ukraine war. Those jobs went to U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg, respectively. Trump takes office next month.
During his first term in office, in 2020, Trump ordered a U.S. air strike that killed Iran‘s top military commander, Qassem Soleimani.
Trump in 2018 also reneged on a nuclear deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015 and re-imposed U.S. economic sanctions on Iran that had been relaxed. The deal had limited Iran‘s ability to enrich uranium, a process that can yield fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Iran now is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief told Reuters last week. Iran says its nuclear program only serves peaceful purposes.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland in Washington; Additional reporting by Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco;Editing by Mary Milliken and Diane Craft)
