President Rouhani told a visiting senior French official that “Iran has kept the door of diplomacy and negotiation fully open, and we hope that the parties to the JCPOA take the best advantage of this opportunity until we reach the optimum point, which is the full implementation of the JCPOA”. He went on to say that “the main goal of the Islamic Republic of Iran is that the commitments stipulated under the JCPOA be fully implemented by its parties, and if they live up to their commitments, Iran will take new steps in completing its commitments”. Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary, Ali Shamkhani, also met with the French official and stated that “today, the U.S. has held Europe’s independence hostage, and the EU states must stand against the U.S. unilateralism to defend their identity and independence”.