Brian Hook, onstage during the 2021 Concordia Annual Summit / Getty Images for Concordia Summit
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Who’s on the Iran Action Group? More About Neo–Cons‘ March…
Brian Hook, the new chief of the Iran Action Group (IAG) , whose other members mysteriously haven’t been made public, is a long time fellow-traveler and functionary of the neo–con policies that are increasing taking hold in the Administration.
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Trump’s Iran Hawk Returns: Brian Hook Poised to Reignite ‘M
Опубликовано 9 часов назад
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 staf… -
Brian Hook
Brian Hook
United States Special Representative for Iran In office
September 1, 2018 – August 6, 2020President Donald Trump Preceded by Stephen Mull (Coordinator for Iran Nuclear Implementation) Succeeded by Elliott Abrams Director of Policy Planning In office
February 17, 2017 – September 1, 2018President Donald Trump Preceded by Jonathan Finer Succeeded by Kiron Skinner Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs In office
October 7, 2008 – January 20, 2009President George W. Bush Preceded by Kristen Silverberg Succeeded by Esther Brimmer Personal details Born 1968 (age 55–56) Political party Republican Education University of St. Thomas (BA)
Boston College (MA)
University of Iowa (JD)Brian H. Hook (born 1968) is an American diplomat, lawyer and government official. In 2021, he joined Cerberus Capital Management as vice chairman for global investments. He is an adjunct professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.[1]
He served as U.S. Special Representative for Iran and Senior Policy Advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from September 2018 to August 2020. He was the Director of Policy Planning under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.[2]
Education
Hook received a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of St. Thomas in 1990, a master’s degree in philosophy from Boston College, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Iowa College of Law.
Career
From 1999 to 2003, Hook practiced corporate law at Hogan & Hartson in Washington.[3]
During the George W. Bush administration, Hook served as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Special Assistant to the President for Policy in the White House Chief of Staff’s office; and as Counsel, Office of Legal Policy, at the U.S. Justice Department.[2]
After the Bush administration, Hook founded Latitude, LLC, an international consulting firm based in Washington, DC. He serves on the advisory board of Beacon Global Strategies.[4]
Hook worked on the 2012 Romney campaign staff as senior advisor on foreign policy. He chaired the foreign policy and national security task forces of the Romney Readiness Project. He was the foreign policy director of Governor Tim Pawlenty‘s presidential campaign from 2010 to 2011.[citation needed]
In 2013, he co-founded the John Hay Initiative,[5] an anti-isolationist group intended to inform political leaders about foreign policy.
In early 2017, Hook was appointed director of the Office of Policy Planning in the State Department by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Secretary’s chief foreign policy adviser.[2]
In response to a comment by Tillerson about human rights, Hook sent Tillersona a memo stating that “Allies should be treated differently—and better—than adversaries. Otherwise, we end up with more adversaries, and fewer allies”.[6]
Hook briefed Tillerson on and promoted the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, an approach by Japan and the U.S. to expand their Asia strategies to include India and the Persian Gulf, within the Trump administration.[7]
In 2018 Pompeo set up the Iran Action Group to coordinate and run U.S. policy toward Iran with Hook as its head.[8]
Hook spent months traveling between the US and Europe in an effort to negotiate an enhanced Iran nuclear agreement with European leaders. Hook also negotiated the release of two Iranian hostages, Xiyue Wang and Michael White.[2]
Hook meets with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi during his official visit at the Agency headquarters in Vienna, Austria on July 1, 2020. Hook traveled to North Korea in May 2018 with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a meeting with Kim Jong Un and to free three American hostages.[9]
In September 2019, Hook was named as a candidate to replace John Bolton as the National Security Advisor.[10]
In November 2019, Hook was the subject of controversy when an internal State Department report claimed he mishandled an employment issue with department official Sahar Nowrouzzadeh. Nowrouzzadeh had been the subject of a 2017 article in the Conservative Review which falsely claimed she was born in Iran and made disparaging remarks against her. The article was reportedly passed around the State Department, including to President Trump. Nowrouzzadeh reported the issue to Hook, but the internal report stated he did not take proper action.[11][12] The author of the internal report was later fired.[13]
Hook was a member of Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hook accompanied the US Middle East envoy to focus on the economic and political components of the plan. This transpired into the Abraham Accords that were signed in 2020.[14]
U.S. Special Representative Brian Hook stands next to freed U.S. prisoner Xiyue Wang, who had been held in Iran for 3 years. On August 6, 2020, Hook announced his resignation from the United States Department of State. Hook was succeeded in the position of Special Representative by Elliott Abrams.[15] He continued to work with Jared Kushner and the White House on the Middle East peace agreements known as the Abraham Accords.
After leaving the Trump administration, Hook joined Cerberus Capital Management as vice chairman of the alternative investment firm’s international arm. Hook has also worked for Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and U.S. Congressman Jim Leach.[16]
Hook was appointed by President Trump to the board of trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center at the Smithsonian Institution.[17] Hook serves on the board of trustees for Saint John’s Seminary in Boston and the board of directors for the National Civic Art Society in Washington, DC.[18]
Abraham Accords/Middle East Peace Process
Hook planned the Ministerial to Promote Peace and Security in the Middle East, a conference held in Warsaw, Poland, in February 2019. The summit was attended by foreign ministers and diplomats from 60 countries.[19]
Hook coordinated secret talks between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to coordinate military and intelligence sharing against Iranian threats.[20]
See also
- David Satterfield
- Brett McGurk
- Jim Jeffrey
- Elliott AbramsUS election 2024 live: Harris concedes, Trump prepares to take power
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Опубликовано вчера
Because we now know that Brian Hook has been put in charge of the transition at the State Department and he is the neo–con’s neo–con. -
Trump’s top Iran envoy quits as US bids to extend Tehran embargo
The Trump administration’s lead diplomat on Iran, Brian Hook, has announced his resignation days before the US attempts a high-stakes gambit against Tehran at the United Nations . -
Former US Iran envoy Brian Hook set for a comeback in Trump 2.0
Опубликовано 54 минуты назад
Along with Hook, Politico reported the return of other hawks including Mark Paoletta coming in to lead transition plans for the Justice Department and former Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer dubbed to head up Trump’s economic team. -
The Neocons Strike Back | The New Republic
Its hawkish tendencies remain widely prevalent not only in the Republican Party but also in the media, the think-tank universe, and in the liberal-hawk precincts of the Democratic Party. -
US Representative for Iran Claims Tehran ‘Photoshops’ its…
US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook says that Iran photoshops images of missile launches to try and show an increased missile capability & photoshops antiquated aircraft tried to pass them off as new fighter jets.Не найдено: hawk -
Trump’s Triumph and the firing of Yoav Gallant, by Mike Whitney
Опубликовано вчера
Hook lead the “maximum pressure” plan against Iran and will now head American “diplomacy” in general for the next couple of months. -
Brian Hook: Five key moments from outgoing US envoy for Iran
Senior American diplomat Brian Hook, one of the architects of Washington’s recent policies against Iran, is leaving the Trump administration to pursue opportunities in the private sector, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Thursday. -
“US Special Representative on Iran, Brian Hook, says Donald Trump…
Today fulfilling its traditional role, preparing the ground for future calamities by making sure your indignant ageing listeners nod in approval at every neocon hawk you serve up for them. -
US Special Rep for Iran, Brian Hook makes Captain Hook look like…
Over the past few months, US Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook the head of the Iran Action Group, has been personally writing emails and texts to over a dozen ship captains around the world, to make them an offer they can’t refuse.Не найдено: hawk -
Superhawk Elliott Abrams Named Special Envoy on Iran – News…
Brian Hook resigns post. … Hook presented his time as a success, saying that even though the US didn’t get any Iran negotiations on his watch, they at least damaged Iran’s economy with constant sanctions, saying he left Iran weaker than he found it. -
Elliott Abrams to replace Brian Hook as Trump’s Iran envoy
President Trump’s Iran envoy, Brian Hook, is stepping down, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed Thursday.
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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”
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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 first 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.”
Prior to working for Trump in his first term, Hook had been a critic of his candidacy. Hook was a co-founder of the John Hay Initiative, a group that sought to counter alleged “isolationist” trends in the U.S. foreign policy establishment. In 2016, the group issued a letter signed by 121 GOP foreign policy experts denouncing Trump’s candidacy as a threat to America’s standing abroad. Hook himself did not sign the letter but had made other statements critical of Trump, shortly before being appointed to his administration to serve as director of policy planning under his first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.
Hook has also had a longstanding hawkish view of Russia that may place him at odds with Trump, who has promised a speedy negotiated conclusion to the war in Ukraine. Since leaving the Trump administration, Hook has worked as vice-chairman for a New York private equity firm focused on international investments.
Hook’s views on Iran may wind up influencing Trump’s approach to the country. While both Trump and vice president-elect J.D. Vance have said that war with Iran is not in America’s interest, Hook has pushed forward policies throughout his time in office that increase the likelihood of such an outcome. His appointment may also set up a clash between neoconservatives and the restraint-focused wing of the Republican Party.
“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,” said Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “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.”
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, an effort that he will likely try to push the U.S. to join. In an escalating tit-for-tat cycle of attacks, Iran is soon expected to retaliate against last month’s Israeli airstrikes that killed four soldiers and a civilian inside the country.
In the face of this delicate situation, and notwithstanding Trump and Vance’s own statements about wanting to avoid another military quagmire in the Middle East, the potential appointment of hawkish officials like Hook is a signal that they may continue with a policy that drags the U.S. closer to war, regardless.
“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,” Parsi said. “Netanyahu may escalate against Iran, but the Iranians themselves also might decide that they need to hit back now against Israel, because the neoconservatives, after the last Israeli attack, are arguing that it is pretty easy to strike Iran, and so Trump should let Israel finish the job.”
“One way to convince Trump it is not easy would be to strike hard now, and send a message that a war with Iran would be bloody and difficult, which is not what Trump wants.”
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…..Good comments about Hook
Kept the Iranians in check? Iran’s nuclear capabilities only grew under that ‘maximum pressure’ nonsense. Hook’s methods escalated tensions without results. Diplomacy might not be as flashy, but it’s the only way to avoid unnecessary conflict. This is the 21st century; we don’t need more wars!
As someone who’s been on the frontlines, I don’t trust policies that just escalate without real outcomes. Hook’s tactics didn’t ‘check’ Iran—they just pushed the country further from diplomacy. If Trump’s administration continues this way, we’re only going to be paying for it in blood and dollars.
But did Hook’s strategies actually succeed in creating a safer U.S.? Or did they just turn up the heat without any clear win? Sure, the ‘maximum pressure’ policy made headlines, but sanctions didn’t topple the regime. Iran became more hostile. We need to reassess if we’re after sustainable peace or just short-term toughness.
@5FBR3RSLibertarian10hrs
Let’s be real here: the last thing we need is another neocon ready to plunge us into endless Middle Eastern entanglements. Trump’s base voted for ‘America First,’ not more intervention. Hook’s hawkishness goes against everything we wanted from Trump’s foreign policy!
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…….Enthusiastic wardog Patton became Trump
A regular commenter and donor wrote:
I rooted for Trump to win, despite the fact that he is Jew-filthy. The issue for me was the open southern border and the invasion of Brown people — Brown people who had no conception of Constitutional Rights.
However I worry that Trump may use the force of government to bring grief to those of us classified as „anti-Semites.“
I replied:
Understandable.
What I read was that the context of his antisemites remark was an actual ju had been murdered, supposedly, by some antisemite in the town where he was giving the speech, and he was talking about antisemitism as in actually killing a ju because he was a ju…. in other words, not about peacefully expressing an antisemitic opinion.
As you know, I believe for many clearly laid-out reasons that reincarnation is a serious possibility, and that Trump was George Patton.
One, the evidence for reincarnation:
Two: that the antisemite Patton (d. 1945) became Trump (b. 1946)
…..Maverick, egotistical, flashy, bellicose, blondish, blue-eyed, 6’2″ President Donald Trump (born June 1946) is literally the reincarnation of the maverick, egotistical, flashy, bellicose, blondish, blue-eyed, 6’2″ general George Patton (died December 1945) Trump, previously George Patton, is ready for conflict, war and death once again in this incarnation
This was a fine article by my late boss, Dr. William Pierce, on George Patton:
The problem is that this soul, this reincarnating person, has not evolved very much since then. He both grasps how evil the juze are and yet he still plays footsy with them. It is the sempiternal earthling problem of the denial of reality.
I could see it in my own father, or in Nixon, too… It is this mere country-club antisemitism, and I do mean this literally as in refusing juze membership in WASP country clubs….because many ju businessmen were not genteel, but instead nouveaux riches, obnoxious, gauche (a word my father would use), pushy, annoying and often unethical, not to mentin looking physically ugly, creepy, and even downright sinister.
Yes, they are all that, but as you well know, having sent me much fine material on ritual murder, they are far more — evil incarnate, and treasonous, treacherous, sadistic genociders!
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…..My view of Iran
Iran has been an Islamic Republic for almost 45 years now, so one cannot discuss Iran without discussing Islam.
I have two pragmatic things to say:
- the semitic peoples (and Iran became racially mostly semitic after the brutal Arab conquest) feel jealously and hostility toward the Cro Magnon peoples — the white race
- Islam is a religion that actually holds the muslim countries back
- the Muslims are against Israel, the juze, and woke culture
My objection therefore is only to them being in OUR countries.
Let them be as muslim as they want, but only in their own countries, and hate and fight the jews from there.
While tragic, if the neanderthalic semites kill each other off, it diverts them from killing us.
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