https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-iran-hawk-hook-pompeo-israel-netanyahu-russia?mc_cid=f7a3036e04&mc_eid=89495a90fc

Trump is Eyeing Iran Hawk Brian Hook as First Foreign Policy Pick

"The Iranian view is that Trump wants to make a deal, but it depends on whether he appoints the same neoconservatives as last time"

Murtaza Hussain

Brian Hook, a hawkish fixture of the first Donald Trump administration who formerly served under George W. Bush, is reportedly getting the call to start staffing the State Department for a new Trump term. Hook, known as a major Iran hawk who helped lead the “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions, sabotage, and assassinations that characterized Trump’s approach to Tehran, has been appointed to help oversee the formation of a new foreign policy team, according to reports from Politico and CNN.

Hook served as U.S. Special Representative for Iran and advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the last two years of Trump’s presidency, which saw the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and expansion of crushing sanctions intended to spur regime change in Iran. That approach ultimately failed to collapse the Iranian government, or compel it to reduce its support for its network of armed proxies in the region. Instead, it wound up escalating the hostility between the two countries while Iran ramped up its nuclear enrichment following Trump’s withdrawal from the Obama-era nuclear deal.  

In addition to his Iran portfolio and work on the Abraham Accords—the set of agreements spearheaded by Jared Kushner that aimed to “normalize” Israel’s relationships with the Arab world at the expense of the Palestinians—Hook was also the head of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff at the time the department was producing outlandish documents calling for the Trump administration to help orchestrate an “Islamic reformation.”