More than 200 progressive groups and foreign policy experts have come to the defense of President Joe Biden's reported front-runner for special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, whose detractors accuse him of being an apologist for the regime.

Malley, currently president and CEO of the Washington-based International Crisis Group, would bring hands-on experience to the role. He was among the top negotiators of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord when he served as the Middle East director for President Barack Obama’s National Security Council. 

The signatories to the open letter published Thursday, which include the Project on Middle East Democracy, the Quincy Institute, the National Iranian American Council and J Street, describe Malley as having the diplomatic chops needed for “fixing our broken policy towards Iran.”

“Those who accuse Malley of sympathy for the Islamic Republic have no grasp of — or no interest in — true diplomacy, which requires a level-headed understanding of the other side’s motivations and knowledge that can only be acquired through dialogue,” they wrote.