Asked how the Vienna talks could be impacted by a 29 July attack against the M/T Mercer Street, for which the U.S. had blamed Iran, a White House spokesperson emphasised that “every single challenge and threat we face from Iran would be made more pronounced and dangerous by an unconstrained nuclear program… It doesn’t mean that it will take care of the other issues that had been ongoing concerns we’ve had with Iran. They are a bad actor on the global stage”.