Brian Hook
Brian HookUS Embassy, Jerusalem

US President Donald Trump's Iran envoy Brian Hook announced that he is stepping down Thursday, the New York Times reported.

Hook told the Times that the administration's policies of applying pressure on Iran have been successful. "By almost every metric, the regime and its terrorist proxies are weaker than three and a half years ago. Deal or no deal, we have been very successful,"

Elliott Abrams, the State Department special representative for Venezuela, will replace Hook as the administration's envoy to Iran.

Hook has served as US special envoy to Iran since September, 2018.