Iran’s negotiator at JCPOA talks in Vienna maintained that “Iran is only talking about the final step in lifting the oppressive sanctions against the Iranian nation, and rumors such as step-by-step plans or an interim agreement are baseless”. Relatedly, President Rouhani suggested that “talks have progressed about 60, 70 per cent” while an Iranian government spokesperson posited that “the U.S. administration can return, in a short time, to the JCPOA obligations… we can quickly verify [the process] and… will swiftly return to our commitments”. The same day, a U.S. diplomatic spokesperson opined that “there has been some progress, but there remains a long road ahead”, while emphasising: “Our goal is to have Iran back into compliance, and what that means is to have Iran once again subject to the most stringent verification and monitoring regime ever negotiated”. He further underscored that “we do remain from there focused on lengthening and strengthening the provisions of that deal, and from there, working on addressing other areas of malign Iranian behaviour”. “We think we have a good deal of partnership and seek to leverage cooperation with our allies and partners, including our partners in the region”, he added.