Discussing JCPOA negotiations in Vienna, a State Department spokesperson indicated that “past rounds have helped to crystalise the choices Iran would need to make… and on our own end too, it has helped to illuminate for us what we would need to do, including with our own sanctions, to resume our compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. This progress notwithstanding, challenges remain”. Noting that a return to the 2015 deal would be “a necessary but insufficient step”, the spokesperson underscored that “we are focused on a potential mutual return to compliance because Iran moving closer to having the capacity to quickly develop a nuclear weapon, if it so chooses, would make every single challenge we face with Iran all the more difficult”. He went on to note that the U.S. “remained resolutely focused on the issue of Americans who are unjustly detained in Iran”.