Elliott Abrams, who is now serving as special representative for Venezuela, will assume Hook's position in addition for his current role.
By OMRI NAHMIASUS special representative for Iran Brian Hook speaks during a joint news conference with Bahrain Foreign Minister, Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani (not pictured), in Manama, Bahrain June 29, 2020.(photo credit: HAMAD I MOHAMMED/REUTERS)Brian Hook, the Trump administration special representative for Iran, is stepping down from his role, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced. He served as the administration's point man on Iran for the past two years. In the past year, he was also included in Jared Kushner's Middle East peace team.Pompeo thanked Hook and said that he has achieved historic results countering the Iranian regime."He successfully negotiated with the Iranians the release of Michael White and Xiyue Wang from prison," Pompeo noted. "He has been a trusted advisor to me and a good friend. I thank him for his service."According to Pompeo's announcement, Elliott Abrams, who is now serving as special representative for Venezuela, will assume Hook's position in addition for his current role.Hook's departure comes as the United Nations Security Council prepares to vote next week on a US bid to extend an international arms embargo on Iran.Speaking yesterday at the virtually-held Aspen Security Forum, Hook noted that the US will “very soon” put forward a Security Council resolution, calling to extend the embargo. Hook said that all the countries in the Middle East are speaking in one voice around the measure.“You have the Saudis, the Emirates, the Bahrainis, Yemen and Israel, all in complete agreement that the arms embargo needs to be extended,” he said.“And when the Arabs and Israelis come together on something, I really think it’s important for the international community to pay attention. And we have to listen to what the region is saying.”The special representative also said that it was a mistake “to ever allow in year five of the Iran deal to let the arms embargo expire on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.”Reuters contributed to this report.
