The US envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, has resigned, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday (August 6), a few months before the presidential election which could potentially reorient the foreign policy of the United States.
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" Brian Hook has achieved historic results with the Iranian regime ," during his two years at the State Department, commented the head of US diplomacy. Brian Hook, who notably negotiated prisoner exchanges between Iran and the United States, " has decided to return to the private sector, " said Mike Pompeo.
Among the released prisoners are Michael White, a former US Navy serviceman who had been detained in the Islamic Republic since his arrest in July 2018 and American scholar Xiyue Wang released in exchange for Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani. Elliott Abrams, a figure in the Iraq War, will replace Hook while keeping his current post of emissary for Venezuela, said Mike Pompeo.
Arms embargo
The departure comes as the United States seeks to extend the arms embargo imposed on Iran and will present a resolution on this subject to the Security Council next week, despite opposition from Moscow and Beijing. If this resolution is not adopted, " we will take the necessary measures to ensure that this arms embargo does not expire ," warned the Secretary of State at the end of July.
The United States believes it has the right to impose the reinstatement of the UN economic sanctions against Tehran, lifted as part of the 2015 international Iran nuclear deal - and in their minds, even if US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from this agreement in 2018.
