TEHRAN — Mark Dubowitz, one of the people who knew about the secret group titled "Group on Iran Policy", has implicitly confirmed in a tweet the existence of such a group by saying he is "honored" to be part of it.

In a report titled “Group on Iran Policy” on Saturday, the Tehran Times revealed that the Biden administration was working with a number of Iran hawks in Washington to “set out a plan to destroy the Vienna talks in case they are resumed.”

“The U.S. special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, has been in touch with a vague, secret team of former Trump officials and Iran experts at conservative think tanks. The hush-hush team, known among its members as ‘Group on Iran Policy,’ includes Trump Iran envoy Eliot Abrams, former diplomat and Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Dennis Ross, and managing director at the Washington Institute Michael Singh, the Tehran Times can reveal,” the report said.

Soon after the report was published on the Tehran Times website on Friday night, Jason Brodsky, Senior Middle East Analyst & Editor at Iran International, a news network founded and funded by the Saudi regime, posted a screenshot of a segment of a report tweeting, “All the usual caveats apply, but Tehran Times is clearly eyeing the reports that the @StateDept #Iran team is expanding, and now it claims it has seen ‘documents’ revealing.”

As reported, the Tehran Times has obtained documents, revealing the intentions behind the foundation of the group. 

“According to documents seen by the Tehran Times, the group’s existence and meetings as well as discussions were meant to be secret and off the record, even though many other Iran hawks such as Ray Takeyh, Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, were already in the know about the formation of the group,” it said.

The report also indicated that a number of Republican figures such as Abrams, John Bolton, and Dubowitz reinforced this belief “by supporting Trump’s decision to scupper the 2015 nuclear deal.”

The report caught the attention of Mark Dubowitz. Early on Sunday morning, Dubowitz tweeted, “Honored to be part of the ‘machinations of the scheming group’ to defeat the regime in Iran. ‘In fact, there are already indications that the seventh round could be overshadowed by machinations of the scheming group,’ the report added.” 

The tweet implicitly confirmed what was reported by the Tehran Times. The chutzpah in the tweet, however, reveals the enmity of Washington with Iran. 

With this implicit confirmation, the question remains: “Can the U.S. be trusted in the Vienna negotiations?”

Change of approach

After the Tehran Times disclosed the secret group, its members were dumbfounded. Richard Goldberg tweeted on Sunday, "The usual dance to see if Biden and E3 will once again back away from holding Iran accountable at the IAEA board meeting. Fool me once shame on you; fool me three times shame on Malley."

The tweet was retweeted by Dubowitz. This shows that the members of Group on Iran Policy are stunned. The dispute among the members is clear. 

It seems that the group has begun to change and adopt their strategies.