HIBAPRESS – Follow-up
Nick Stewart, a former employee of the US State Department during the first term of President Donald Trump, has joined the American negotiating team concerned with the Iranian file, according to CBS network, quoting informed sources.
The network explained that Stewart joined a team that includes Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and the US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, just before the failure of the Islamabad talks led by Vice President JD Vance in early April.
According to sources, Stewart was appointed by Kushner, and he had previously worked at the "Foundation for Defense of Democracies" center, where he specialized in nuclear proliferation issues and Iranian affairs.
In a related context, the absence of experts from the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Energy from the negotiating team raised questions within Congress, which demanded clarifications from American officials about the entity that provides specialized technical support on the Iranian nuclear file.
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright responded during a hearing before the Senate Energy and Resources Committee on April 21, saying: "I am the first to provide expertise in this field, and we also have a nuclear non-proliferation team that participates in these efforts, in addition to a specialized team working on finding solutions to the Iranian crisis according to its developments."
It is noted that Stewart previously worked for Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney from New York State, who described him as one of the most prominent American experts in Iranian politics.
