Pompeo names Brian Hook US special envoy for Iran

World
Europe

00:39

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday named senior policy adviser Brian Hook as Washington's special representative for Iran. Hook will lead a newly established Iran Action Group to coordinate the State Department's pressure campaign on Iran, Pompeo told a news conference.

The move came as the Trump administration prepared to increase economic pressure on Iran by restoring sanctions.

Hook, who has pushed for tough action against Iran, has been leading the department's talks with allies in Europe and Asia to persuade them to support US sanctions and cut off Iran's oil supplies as of November.

Brian Hook (L), US State Department's director of policy planning and head of the Iran Action Group, shakes hands with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a press briefing in Washington, DC, August 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

"The Iran Action Group will be responsible for directing, reviewing and coordinating all aspects of the State Department's Iran-related activity, and will report directly to me," Pompeo said.

President Donald Trump announced in May that the United States was withdrawing from an Iran nuclear deal sealed in 2015 between Tehran and six world powers. Washington has said it would only end the sanctions if Iran allowed the negotiation of a tougher deal.

Hook, who was a close adviser to former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, worked with US National Security Adviser John Bolton on Iran sanctions while Bolton was the US Ambassador to the United Nations under Republican President George W. Bush.

Hook also served as an assistant secretary of state during Bush's administration and was an adviser to the Republican presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty.

Iranians walk by mural painting of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on the wall of the former US embassy in Iranian capital Tehran, August 7, 2018. /VCG Photo

Trump has said he would be willing to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, although Tehran said the way back to talks was for the United States to return to the nuclear deal.

Asked whether he supported such a meeting and whether his brief would be to set up those talks, Hook said if Iran showed that it was willing to change its behavior, then Trump "was prepared to engage in dialogue in order to find solutions."

Washington aims to force Tehran to end its nuclear program and its support of militant groups in the Middle East.

Iran and other signatories, including Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, have been working to find a way to salvage the nuclear agreement, even as the United States has started re-imposing some sanctions on Iran.

11158km

Source(s): Reuters