Drop Site News reports in “Trump is Eyeing Iran Hawk Brian Hook as First Foreign Policy Pick”: “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.”
TRITA PARSI, trita@quincyinst.org @tparsi
Parsi is the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He said: “The Trump administration’s approach towards Iran depends very much on who he chooses to staff his administration. In his first term he was sold on an idea by people like Pompeo and John Bolton that Iran could be sanctioned and pressured into oblivion, but that was an approach more likely to deliver war than an agreement. … The Iranian view is that Trump himself wants to make a deal, but it depends on whether he appoints the same neoconservatives as last time to his administration. …
“There are roughly two months left before Trump comes into office and it is in Netanyahu’s interest to create a situation where Trump’s options are very limited, and all of them to varying degrees are in support of Netanyahu.”