Secretary of State Mike Pompeo argued that “our [maximum pressure] campaign is working because now the Iranians are desperately signaling their willingness to return to the negotiating table to get sanctions relief”. Pompeo further underscored that “in the event that they come to the table and are only willing to talk about turning off a few centrifuges for a few months or a few years, the world should find that unsatisfactory. The Middle East countries I assure you will find that unsatisfactory”. “We ought not cut short a negotiation. We ought not reduce the driver that creates the need for the Iranians to negotiate and be satisfied with the simple idea that we’ll get some verification and the capacity for us to stare at some centrifuges and verify every day that they’re turned off for just a little while”, he added. “It cannot be that the right direction is to allow Iran to continue to buy and sell weapons again. It can’t be the case that the right direction is to allow Iran to have access to Western technology and Western capital again… down that path lies what we have all seen: a real risk to the stability of the region”.