Report: State Department Approved Articles by ‘Obama Holdover’ Challenging Trump on Iran

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) reportedly signed off on several articles penned by an “Obama holdover” that explicitly challenged President Trump’s anti-Iran policy objectives, according to Conservative Review (CR).

Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, the DOS official behind the fiercely anti-Trump articles, has reportedly devoted a significant portion of her career to supporting her former boss’s Iran nuclear deal, which she helped to promote.

CR identifies Nowrouzzadeh as “an Obama holdover who played an integral role in advancing the Iran nuclear deal between the Obama administration and the terrorist regime in Tehran.”

She has written several articles blasting President Trump’s policy towards state sponsor of terrorism Iran.

Referring to a Foreign Affairs piece she co-authored, titled “Trump’s Dangerous Shift on Iran,” an unnamed Department of State (DOS) spokesperson indicated to CR that the article was “reviewed by the State Department” before publication.

The spokesperson highlighted legal restrictions that would prevent a DOS employee from publishing an article:

1. If it contains classified information;
2. If it contains information not releasable under FOIA (e.g., protected employee information, law enforcement information, etc.);
3. If it is highly likely to result in serious adverse consequences to the efficiency or mission of the Department.

Nowrouzzadeh helped write the Foreign Affairs article after President Trump announced that his administration was planning to complete a major strategic review of America’s Iran policy.

Marking a significant shift from the previous administration’s policy of appeasing the Islamic Republic, the commander-in-chief declared on October 13, “I am announcing our strategy, along with several major steps we are taking to confront the Iranian regime’s hostile actions and to ensure that Iran never, and I mean never, acquires a nuclear weapon.”

Alluding to the “Trump’s Dangerous Shift on Iran” report by Nowrouzzadeh, Conservative Review points out, “The State Department signed off on an article that directly challenged the president’s policy objectives, yet did not find that a piece targeting his foreign policy could result in ‘adverse consequences’ to the mission of the State Department.”

DOS reportedly vetted and approved the publication of Nowrouzzadeh’s articles while outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in office.

Nowrouzzadeh co-authored a report in December titled “This is Why Trump’s Strategy for Iran Will Fail.”

“Again, given her continuing role as a government employee, this piece also had to be reviewed by the State Department before being cleared for publication,” notes CR.

After CR detailed Nowrouzzadeh’s links to the Iran deal, noting that she continued to work on policy related to the Islamic Republic at Tillerson’s DOS, the department just reassigned the official to cover a different area.

In addition to her employment at DOS, Nowrouzzadeh is a joint research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Iran Project.