WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Department announced Thursday the creation of the Iran Action Group (IAG) to execute the administration's Iran strategy, coordinate the "whole-of-government" effort in this respect and pressure Iran to change its behaviors.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the group will be responsible for directing, reviewing, and coordinating "all aspects of the State Department's Iran-related activity, and will report directly to me."
"Our hope is that one day soon we can reach a new agreement with Iran," he said. "But we must see major changes in the regime's behavior both inside and outside of its borders."
Brian Hook, the current director of policy planning at the State Department, will lead the group with the formal title of Special Representative for Iran.
Hook said the new U.S. strategy on Iran "addresses all manifestations of the Iranian threat" and his action group will focus on implementing the Iran strategy as outlined by Pompeo in his 12-point requirements in May.
"A lot of our work is going to be built around advancing those 12 areas -- mostly around nukes, terrorism, and the detention of American citizens arbitrarily detained," he said.
Hook said the Trump administration will continue to build "the broadest level of international support" for its strategy, as teams from the State Department and the Treasury Department have visited 24 countries in the world.
Hook added that "the sanctions relief, the reestablishment of full diplomatic and commercial relations with the United States, and economic cooperation with the United States can only begin after we see that the Iranian regime is serious about changing its behavior."
Washington left the Iran nuke deal on May 8, saying it would re-impose sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the deal. Pompeo rolled out on May 21 a new strategy on Iran, outlining 12-point requirements for Iran to change its behaviors.
The U.S. government on Aug. 8 re-imposed sanctions on Iran on non-energy areas, and would slap the remaining sanctions on Nov. 5 that concentrate on such areas as energy, shipping and ports.
For its part, Tehran has said that the U.S. side is unreliable, and it will not talk with Washington.
