US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has unveiled a new Iran action group to coordinate and run Washington's policy toward Tehran in the wake of the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, Sputnik reported.
“Today I’m happy to announce the creation of the Iran Action Group,” Pompeo told reporters. “The Iran Action Group will be responsible for directing, reviewing and coordinating all aspects of the State Department’s Iran-related activity and it will report directly to me.”
Brian Hook has been appointed as the new special representative for Iran, who is currently the State Department's director of policy planning. He is expected to oversee implementation of the Trump administration's entire Iran policy.
The Iran Action Group will drive efforts to achieve the US objective of changing Tehran’s behavior and ensuring the State Department is in sync with other inter-agency partners as it pursues its mission, Mike Pompeo said.
Moreover, the Iran Action Group will address all manifestations of the Iranian threat, which has been a force for instability and violence, Hook said. Iran’s destabilizing activity is broad, but includes aspirations of developing nuclear weapons, its support for terrorism, malign cyber activity, proliferation of ballistic missiles and much more, he added.
Prior to the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May, Hook was dealing with negotiations with the US' EU allies in order to change the agreement.