The U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, stated that “we have put in place a new strategy, working with partners in the region, to deny Iran the revenue that it needs to run its foreign policy and to fund its proxies. And we’re very pleased with the progress that we’ve made on that”. Addressing U.S. sanctions against Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, Hook argued that “it is a mistake to argue that this is somehow a rejection of diplomacy”, adding that “Iran over the last few months has rejected diplomacy too many times, and as a consequence we are focussed on intensifying our economic pressure campaign to drive up the costs of Iran’s malign behaviour”. Hook also indicated that “our sanctions have driven up the cost on the regime, and the point of that is to help the Iranian government see that the costs of pursuing the nuclear option are very real”.