 Once the U.S. pulled out of the agreement, the Iranian position was that they would only engage directly with the U.S. once the U.S. was back into the agreement. The U.S. could not, in their view, have its cake and eat it, to pull out of the agreement and at the same time be able to have direct diplomacy. In my view, that was a mistake. And eventually, although the position never changed formally, informally, the U.S. and Iran did have secret talks in Oman and other countries in the Persian Gulf.