Opponents criticised Hook and the administration for overly harsh and indiscriminate sanctions, which they said were hurting ordinary Iranians and failing to change the behaviour of the Iranian government. Hook, 52, was appointed to the top Iran role at the State Department in late 2018 and has been instrumental in Washington’s intensifying pressure campaign on Tehran after President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers. He has been a valued member of my leadership team.
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I thank Special Representative Brian Hook for his 3+ years of service to the State Department and as he moves on to the private sector. He described him as a “trusted adviser and a good friend” who has achieved “historic results” in countering Tehran and secured the release of US citizens detained by Iran. Pompeo did not give a reason for Hook’s decision to leave but wrote in a tweet that Hook was moving on to the private sector. It was not immediately clear when Hook’s tenure would formally end and whether he would see through the vote or not. “We hope that the council can find a way.” “We’re going to continue to make the case for this,” Hook told reporters on Thursday morning, hours before his departure was announced.
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Hook’s surprise departure comes at a critical time when Washington has been intensely lobbying at the United Nations to extend an arms embargo on Iran and as the UN Security Council prepares to hold a vote on a US resolution next week. Top United States envoy for Iran Brian Hook is leaving his post – and Elliott Abrams, the US special representative for Venezuela, will add Iran to his role “following a transition period” with Hook, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.