Credit: U.S. Department of State /    U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook at the announcement of the creation of the Iran Action Group in the Press Briefing Room at the Department of State, Aug. 16, 2018.

By Gary Raynaldo        DIPLOMATIC TIMES

“Given Iran’s pattern of behavior we think the right policy is to have an arms embargo in place that doesn’t have a definite date fixed,”  U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said this week speaking at a virtual event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.    Hook discussed the future of U.S.-Iran relations and the current state of the Iranian economy during the coronavirus pandemic.  The Iran envoy called for global support for a US effort for a new UN resolution to extend the arms embargo on Tehran, which is due to expire on October 18. 

“I think it was a very bad idea five years ago to permit the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism to be free of the arms embargo that was negotiated in 2006 or ’(0)7, and then also later in 2010. This is something which should have stayed in place. I think if you look at Iran’s behavior during the five years of this deal, ( JCPOA ) certainly no one can argue that they merit having the arms embargo lifted. And perhaps that’s a question for the Russians and the Chinese. How has Iran merited to have the arms embargo lifted? It was a mistake to ever put this in the Iran nuclear deal.“

-U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook

Russia and China vehemently oppose extending arms embargo against Iran,  contending that the U.S. has no standing because it’s no longer part of the JCPOA to seek an extension. 

“So we are now only five or so months away from the arms embargo. And that would be imports and exports for the regime. President Rouhani declared this a big political win, that they were able to get this concession. He also said he looks forward to buying and selling weapons. So given the volatility of the Middle East, we think that the last thing that region needs is more conventional weapons for Iran. Iran’s foreign policy is the principal driver of instability and violence in today’s Middle East. So we very much hope that we can get the arms embargo renewed,” Hooks said.

U.S.  Envoy Says Trump Sanctions Have Collapsed Iran Oil Sector 

“The Iranian regime relies on oil as its chief export to fund its malign behavior. And it’s really important I think on any strategy to counter Iran that you have to go after the oil. So if you look at the Iranian economy writ large, exports are down. They are facing a massive economic contraction. That was even before COVID. Their access to foreign exchange reserves is minimal. Their government budget has big funding gaps that the regime has no idea how to fix. The IMF and the World Bank have both placed Iran’s economy as third worst in the world behind only Venezuela and Libya, which is not good company. And in a very short period of time we have collapsed Iran’s oil sector. When we got out of the deal in May of 2018 Iran was exporting about two-point-five million barrels of oil a day. There was a Reuters story that had Iran’s export numbers for April at seventy thousand barrels a day.”

-U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook

“What we’ve done on the economic side has no precedent in the Islamic Republic’s forty-one-year history,” Hook.

U.S. Will  Never Allow Iran To Have Nuclear Weapon

“…we are never going to allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. It’s simply the case. They are never going to be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” Hooks said, adding:  “So we have the right strategy in place of economic pressure and diplomatic isolation, restoring military deterrence—I think which was lost. It’s very important to restore that. And that’s going to be our policy while we continue to make clear that they’ll never have a nuclear weapon.”

U.S. Open To Face-To-Face Meeting With Iran to Discuss Prisoner Releases:  Hook

Michael White, an American detained in Iran, was released on June 4  after more than a year in custody in a deal with Tehran.  Hooks was in Zurich to receive White, a Navy veteran, after he was released.   Iran Foreign Minister Javad  Zarif indicated that he would be  open to future exchanges.  “The diplomacy to get Michael White released was the work of many months of diplomacy with the regime through the Swiss government,” Hook said.

“So I’m going to continue, as I have, working with the regime. Would love to have an in-person meeting, to have a consular dialogue so that we can move faster than we have. The regime—the process negotiating with the regime is not linear. It requires a lot of patience. But we’ve been very methodical, very patient, and very determined. And we’ve been able to reach agreements.” 

-U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook