State Department Probe Faults Iran Envoy On Employee Removal

Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Nov, 2019 ) :The State Department's watchdog on Thursday faulted the US pointman on Iran over the removal of an employee of Iranian origin, voicing alarm that Trump administration officials discussed her ancestry.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed to consider disciplinary action against the envoy, Brian Hook, although strong measures appeared unlikely as management also disputed the report's conclusions.

Under pressure from lawmakers, the State Department's inspector general probed the early removal of Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, a career employee and US citizen, from the Office of Policy Planning, the internal think tank that sets priorities for US diplomacy.

A long-awaited report by the internal watchdog said that the White House, two months after President Donald Trump took office in 2017, forwarded an article in conservative US media that was critical of Nowrouzzadeh's continued position and highlighted her ancestry.

Julia Haller, a short-term liaison from the White House in charge of political appointments, in an email cited by the report said Nowrouzzadeh "was born in Iran and upon my understanding cried when the President won.

" Nowrouzzadeh has since taken a fellowship at Harvard University, where her biography says she was born in Connecticut.

Hook, who has championed Trump's hard line on Iran and was then head of policy planning, removed Nowrouzzadeh in April 2017, three months before her one-year appointment made under former secretary of state John Kerry was due to run out.

The report found no evidence that Hook personally shared bias based on Nowrouzzadeh's Iranian origin but said he did not refute the campaign against her, either.

"The comments regarding her perceived place of birth are particularly concerning," the report said.

"Regardless of whether Mr. Hook personally shared the opinions and motivations expressed by Ms. Haller and others, the comments about (Nowrouzzadeh) in the articles and emails circulated within the Office of the Secretary suggest that improper factors likely influenced the requests to end her detail," it said.