When questioned about the US position on sanctions on Iran, the US treasury secretary declined to “preview the deal” but said he thought “things would go very slowly in terms of that, so we’ll see.”

“It is a multifaceted agreement and nothing is going to be on the table until we see the Strait of Hormuz open, and the Iranians agree that they have to turn over the highly enriched Uranium, and that they can’t have a nuclear programme,” he said.

“President Trump has done something that no other administration has been able to do: we have gotten the Iranians to talk about their nuclear programme and to perhaps commit to not having one. That has never happened before.”

“If you look at the results of our kinetic action, of our economic pressure, it has worked to bring them to the table and have a discussion on this.”