Ex-envoy says Trump aims to weaken Iran, ‘deal of the century’ likely back on table
Brian Hook, who will reportedly lead Trump’s transition at State Dept., accuses Biden administration of ‘appeasing and accommodating’ Iran, leading to ‘failure of deterrence’
Brian Hook, Donald Trump’s special envoy for Iran during the president-elect’s first term in office, said Thursday that his former boss has “no interest in regime change” in Tehran but does seek to isolate and weaken the Islamic Republic, and that the administration’s “deal of the century” peace plan for Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians will likely be back on the table once Trump returns to the White House in January.
Speaking on CNN, Hook declined to comment on any future role in Trump’s second administration, though the network reported Wednesday that he will lead the transition team at the State Department, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
Without asserting any insider knowledge, the former State Department official said that the incoming commander-in-chief’s foreign policy intentions are “hidden in plain sight,” pointing to Trump’s decisions during the first four years he was in office from 2017 to 2021.
The Republican president was hawkish on Iran, leaving the US-Iran nuclear deal and exacting a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions on the country. He cultivated ties with Sunni Arab states, ultimately brokering the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Muslim nations.
“President Trump understands that the chief driver of instability in today’s Middle East is the Iranian regime,” Hook said.
By contrast, Hook charged, the Biden administration has taken a “policy of appeasement and accommodation with Iran,” leading to a “failure of deterrence,” because “no one believes you have a credible threat of military force.”
Iran backs Hamas, which attacked Israel last year, starting the ongoing war, as well as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which joined the fight the following day, and other terror groups in the region; it has also attacked Israel directly on two occasions since the war erupted.
The former Trump advisor spoke positively of the so-called Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“The Gulf is, I think, the most economically dynamic and culturally vibrant region in the world today,” he said, citing the “extremism and revolutionary ideology” of the Iranian regime as a chief obstacle to the region’s development.
He accused the Biden administration of “increasing the daylight between America’s partners, calling countries pariahs and lecturing them on how they’re supposed to live.”
The comments were likely an oblique reference to criticism the White House has aimed at Israel over the conduct of its war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, and sanctions levied on settlers in the West Bank accused of human rights violations against local Palestinians.
Biden was also very critical, early in his term, of human rights violations by Saudi Arabia and other countries, warning they’d have to improve their record to maintain good relations with the US.
Hook told CNN that Trump’s peace plan to resolve Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians — his so-called “deal of the century” — would likely be back on the table in a second Trump presidency, though he noted that the appetite for a two-state solution has diminished, following Hamas’s attack.
The plan — crafted in large part by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and unveiled in 2020 — envisioned Israel being able to annex all of its settlements in the West Bank while granting the Palestinians a pathway to a semi-contiguous state on the remaining territory.
The plan was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian Authority, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the plan with reservations. His settler allies, who are now part of his coalition, rejected the proposal due to its inclusion of a potential Palestinian state.
Asked to respond to an assertion by Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister that normalization with Israel is off the table without the establishment of a Palestinian state, Hook highlighted the plan, telling CNN that “much of that work is still relevant today,” and adding that the proposal contains all of the conditions Riyadh is seeking in order to normalize with Israel.
Hook acknowledged, however, that no one is “in much of a mood” to discuss a two-state solution following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 onslaught, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel from Gaza, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war.
“There are many Israelis right now who are focused on other things, specifically keeping them safe from this kind of evil terrorism that they endured on October 7,” he said.
