US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced the creation of a group responsible for ramping up economic and political pressure on Iran now that President Donald Trump has withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear accord.
The so-called “Iran Action Group” will focus on setting conditions to pressure Iran back to the negotiating table for a more comprehensive deal than the multinational Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The group will be led by Brian Hook, who oversaw the administration’s failed efforts with European leaders to beef up the 2015 accord before Trump quit it in May. Hook will leave his post as the State Department’s director of policy planning, a job he also held under Pompeo’s predecessor, Rex Tillerson.
Hook and other officials from the administration have visited more than 20 countries recently, pressuring them to cease doing business with Iran and stop buying its oil before punitive sanctions on energy trade, shipbuilding, and other sectors go back into effect on Nov. 4.