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"

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 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.”

Brian Hook, onstage during the 2021 Concordia Annual Summit / Getty Images for Concordia Summit

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.”