NEW YORK, August 20. /TASS/. US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook has not provided a direct answer to the question of what the United States thinks about Russia's proposal for collective security in the Persian Gulf.
Hook was asked at a briefing whether the US is "willing to engage" on the Russian proposal "in any substantive way." "I’ve only seen news reports of it. I haven’t seen it take flight," Hook said. "We believe that our proposal is the most executable and also the one with the best odds of success in terms of restoring deterrence and protecting freedom of navigation. Look, we welcome a number of ideas to restore deterrence. There are many ways to do that. We have put forward what we know is a very good proposal," he added.
He reminded that the United States has increased its "force posture" in the Middle East since May. "We fly, sail, and operate wherever international law permits. We’ll continue to do that. We know other nations will to continue to join us in that effort," he noted.
On July 23, the Russian Foreign Ministry presented a Concept for collective security in the Persian Gulf. The proposal envisages forming an initiative group for organizing an international conference on security and cooperation in the Persian Gulf, which would later lead to establishing an organization for security and cooperation in the region. Moreover, Moscow put forward a proposal to create demilitarized zones in the region and suggested to give up permanent stationing of groups from non-regional countries, as well as to set up coordination between militaries.