Days before President Donald Trump was expected to decertify Iran’s compliance with a 2015 nuclear nonproliferation agreement, the White House tapped longtime House Foreign Affairs Committee staffer Yleem D. S. Poblete to be assistant secretary of state, verification and compliance.
The White House announced the nomination online.
Poblete spent almost 20 years on the House Foreign Affairs Committee before leaving in 2013. She is currently a senior adviser at the State Department. As head of the agency’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, she would be responsible for developing policies for future arms control agreements, and for verifying that foreign governments are complying with existing pacts.
That would include the multilateral Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action: a multilateral agreement that eased economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for the nation agreeing to a massive scaling back its nuclear ambitions.
If confirmed by the Senate, Poblete would replace Frank Rose, the Obama administration nominee who served about two years before resigning on Inauguration Day.
