During a visit to the UAE, the U.S. special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, predicted that Iran “is going to push back” in response to new U.S. sanctions and that “it is important that the international community does not let Iran get away with the status quo of an acceptable level of violence”. He added that “we have enhanced our force posture in the region and I am here to deepen our cooperation with our allies to restore deterrence against Iran’s attacks, to isolate Iran diplomatically and to build support for our efforts to reverse Iran’s power projection”.