FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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‘We Seek a Treaty’ with Iran, State Department Official Tells Forum

Sept. 20, 2018 (EIRNS)—Brian Hook, chief of the Iran Action Group in the State Department, told an audience at the Hudson Institute in Washington yesterday that the U.S. is seeking to negotiate a treaty with Iran. “The new deal that we hope to be able to sign with Iran—and it will not be a personal agreement between two governments like the last one—we seek a treaty,” Hook said, according to Reuters. Along with nuclear issues, it would address Iran’s ballistic missile program and its supposed regional behavior, particularly in Syria and Yemen.

Hook acknowledged that Iranian leaders have not been interested in talks, despite statements by President Trump this year that the administration was willing to meet. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif “have all indicated they are not interested in talking,” Hook said. “We respect that, though that does not change our plans. We have a sanctions regime that is underway, [and] stronger measures are yet to come.”