Times of India- 22 March 2018- WASHINGTON: The Iranian regime is aggressively destabilising the Middle Eastand presenting a range of threats to peace and security in the region, the US said today.
“When you look at Iran’s foreign and domestic policies, it’s impossible to argue that they are behaving constructively or with greater moderation in the last two years.

“In fact, quite the reverse. They are aggressively destabilising the Middle East and present a range of threats to peace and security,” said Brian Hook, the State Department Director for Policy Planning.

In a telephonic briefing with reporters on the latest quarterly meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Hook said he also requested a meeting with the Iranian delegation to demand the release of the American citizens that they have arbitrarily and unjustly detained.
Responding to questions, Hook said the Iranians had a number of complaints about licenses, especially around civil aviation licenses to Iran Air and other airlines.

“And what I said to them was: You use your commercial airlines to move terrorists and weapons around the Middle East, including to Syria, and we will not issue licenses at the expense of our national security.
And so I encouraged them to make the kind of reforms to their civil aviation and to their economy that would then put us in a better position.
But we are not going to be issuing licenses at the expense of our national security or at the expense of our allies,” he said.