Brian Hook: We Hope the Keys to Iran’s Embassy Will Be Returned to True Representatives of the Iranian People
The U.S. State Department posted a video on its Twitter account showing Iran’s former embassy in Washington, expressing hope for restoring diplomatic ties between the two countries, while simultaneously emphasizing that this is only possible if Iran’s government pursues policies different from those of the past four decades.
The video features remarks by Brian Hook, the U.S. State Department’s Special Representative for Iran Affairs, who begins by speaking of the United States’ commitment to preserving Iran’s embassy building in Washington and its contents, including fine Persian carpets, until the day “its keys are returned to the true representatives of the Iranian people.”
Hook then discusses the necessity of reopening the embassies of both countries, adding that “it is up to Iran’s government to chart a better course for its people. This regime must act less like a revolutionary ideology and more like a normal country.”
America insists that Iran’s government must change its behavior. Mike Pompeo, the country’s Secretary of State, also stated in a recent interview with Radio Farda that Washington wants “Iran to behave like a normal country.”
In the U.S. State Department video, Brian Hook elaborated on what this “normal behavior” means, which includes “ending the policy of threatening the United States and its partners in the Middle East” and “paying attention to the interests and desires of the Iranian people.”
According to him, the characteristics of the Islamic Republic’s policies are “economic mismanagement, environmental destruction, and violent adventures abroad,” and either it must change these policies or “witness the collapse of its own economy.”
Hook described Iran’s government ideology as based on “hatred” and said that “the Iranian people must ultimately regain their freedom and choose their own rulers, rather than having a corrupt group make that choice for them.”
Iran’s government recently entered the fifth decade of its existence, prompting Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, to issue a statement explaining the government’s future path. In this statement, he says that the Islamic Republic “is ready to correct its own mistakes, but is not subject to revision” and “does not distance itself from its values.”
This comes as the U.S. government believes that with current sanctions, the Islamic Republic has no choice but to change its behavior.
Source: Radio Farda
