A U.S. official indicated that “what we’re trying to do, is find a way to kind of move the ball forward... But Iran has to be a reasonable actor in all of that as well. If they’re escalating, there’s just not going to be a way to do any of that”. The official, who was unnamed, also assessed that “there are parts of their system that recognise escalation does not address some of their critical needs... They’ve also seen, because we... protect our interests, we punch back, we’re not pulling any punches... I feel like that Iranians have seen that. And so that is changing their calculus”.