Ex-US Ambassador to Israel Joins US Team on Iran as Senior Adviser, Reports Suggest

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro has been appointed as a senior adviser to the State Department's group on Iran, the Axios media outlet reported on 30 August, citing a high-ranking official.

"Dan’s experience and knowledge of the region and the fact that people in the region know him will help us in thinking about the regional aspects of the Iranian issue and will contribute a lot to our coordination with Israel," the State Department official told the outlet.

The diplomat's nomination reflects his close links to some Israeli officials, including Bennett, the outlet said, recalling some media reports over the past few months hinted that he might be appointed US special envoy on normalisation of ties between Israel and the Arab countries.

Biden and Bennett met on 27 August and discussed the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015 and which obliges Tehran to scale back its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. In 2018, Washington, one of the parties to the agreement, which also include Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom - plus Germany, and the European Union, abandoned the deal and stepped up hard policies against Tehran. Iran, in response,  stopped complying with its obligations under the agreement.