WASHINGTON: The lead US negotiator of the Iran nuclear accord and a battle-tested hawk on Russia were named Saturday to top posts at President-elect Joe Biden’s State Department, signaling a return to normal after Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency.
Wendy Sherman, who brokered the Iran accord under Barack Obama and negotiated a nuclear deal with North Korea under Bill Clinton, was named as deputy secretary of state.
Victoria Nuland, a former career diplomat best known for her robust support for Ukrainian protesters in the ouster of a Russian-aligned president, was nominated under secretary for political affairs — the State Department’s third-ranking post in charge of day-to-day US diplomacy.
Biden said that the State Department nominees “have secured some of the most defining national security and diplomatic achievements in recent memory.”
“I am confident that they will use their diplomatic experience and skill to restore America’s global and moral leadership. America is back,” Biden said in a statement.
The State Department team will work under secretary of state-designate Antony Blinken, whose confirmation hearing will take place on Tuesday on the eve of Biden’s inauguration.
Blinken said that the State Department team, with women and ethnic minorities in prominent positions, “looks like America.”
“America at its best still has a greater capacity than any other country on earth to mobilize others to meet the challenges of our time,” Blinken said.
The optimism comes amid rising doubts about US leadership in Trump’s waning days after his supporters ransacked the Capitol on January 6 to try to stop the ceremonial certification of Biden’s victory.
Under outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a staunch defender of Trump, the United States has aggressively challenged Iran and China, robustly backed Israel and toyed with improving ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while also imposing sanctions on Moscow.
Sherman’s nomination marks another clear sign that Biden wants to return to the accord under which Iran drastically slashed its nuclear program in exchange for promises of sanctions relief.
Trump exited the deal in 2018 and imposed sweeping sanctions in what many observers saw as an unsuccessful attempt to topple the Shiite clerical regime.
Iran deal architect among veterans named for Biden State Department
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Iran deal architect among veterans named for Biden State Department
French Culture Minister Dati quits to focus on run for Paris mayor
- Dati sent her resignation letter to President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday
- Macron’s office said he accepted the resignation
PARIS: French Culture Minister Rachida Dati quit her post on Wednesday to focus on her candidacy for Paris mayor in an election scheduled for March 15.
She sent her resignation letter to President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, she said in an interview with TV station BFMTV.
Macron’s office said he accepted the resignation.
“The head of state thanked her for the useful action she has carried out in service to the French people over the past two years and offered her his full support in the fight she is waging,” the office said.
Dati, who most recently oversaw the change at the helm of the Louvre Museum after a series of crises, is seen as the frontrunner in the race to helm city hall by pollster Ifop, but not until after a second round of voting set for March 22.
