US Iran adviser to move from post

Ross has served as a Middle East envoy under two previous US presidents A senior US state department adviser on Iran is being moved to the National Security Council, officials say, amid reports that Tehran was unwilling to engage with him because of his closeness to Israel. Dennis Ross, Hillary Clinton's special adviser on Iran, had also written a book rejecting the Obama administration's focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as key to achieving peace in the Middle East. Ross, who was special adviser on the Gulf and Southwest Asia, is set to take a similar position at the National Security Council, officials told the Associated Press on Monday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the switch have not yet been completed, the news agency reported. The White House and state department declined to comment on the matter but denied a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Ross was being removed from his job. Haaretz reported earlier on Monday that Iranian officials had objected to his Jewish background and his purported close ties to Israel. Ross also raised the possibility of military action against Tehran in Myths, Illusions, and Peace, set to be released next month, Haaretz reported. The move comes amid rising political tensions in Iran, where disputed elections have sparked street protests in which at least one person was killed after police fired shots. Policy disagreement Ross also rejected the idea of a link between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other conflicts in the region in the new book, a position that puts him at odds with the White House. "There have been dozens of conflicts and countless coups in the Middle East since Israel's birth in 1948, and most were completely unrelated to the Arab-Israeli conflict," Ross wrote. "In short, the argument of linkage has profoundly misled US policy-makers who embraced its logic and the assumptions that underpinned it," he said. Ross, who worked on the Middle East peace negotiations under two previous presidents, is set to resume the role at the NSC, focusing on their regional impact,Haaretz reported.