Last week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met twice to discuss ongoing problems with the lifting of sanctions pursuant to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”) – the nuclear accord between the U.S., other major world powers, and Iran. Those discussions led to a media brief in which Secretary Kerry read an agreed-upon statement regarding the U.S.’s commitment to follow-through on its sanctions-lifting obligations under the JCPOA.

Following a restatement of current U.S. policy that the United States “is not standing in the way and will not stand in the way of business that is permitted with Iran,” Secretary Kerry said the following:

Unfortunately, there seems to be some confusion among some foreign banks, and we want to try to clarify that as much as we can. Among the nuclear-related sanctions that were lifted were those that prevented Iran from engaging with non-US banks, including getting access to Iran’s restricted funds that were previously held overseas…

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We [the U.S.] have no objection and we do not stand in the way of foreign banks engaging with Iranian banks and companies, obviously as long as those banks and companies are not on our sanctions list for non-nuclear reasons. But the nuclear sanctions permitted non-US banks to engage with business activity and companies in Iran, and it allows them to provide access to funds and financing, and it allows Iran, importantly, to have access to its own funds…

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We understand that banks and businesses have complicated business decisions to make, and they have to make them. But that is why the State and Treasury Department have been actively engaged with partner governments and the private sector in order to clarify those sanctions that have been lifted. And if banks or any company have any question about this, we’re happy to answer those questions…

Secretary Kerry’s remarks were a pointed discussion of the ongoing difficulties that Iran is facing re-integrating into the global financial system and winning back some of the business that it lost during the sanctions era. But I am skeptical that mere words will move the needle when it comes to European banks considering whether to re-engage their Iranian counterparts and support trading activity with Iran or Iranian parties. And the fact that a statement was read before last Friday’s meeting signals that we shouldn’t expect additional action to be forthcoming anytime soon. (A task force was created to evaluate the sanctions-lifting and the effects for Iran as part of the JCPOA’s Working Committee last week, too.)

Restatements of U.S. policy, though, are unlikely to change conditions on the ground. The simple reason for this is that foreign banks do face certain legal impediments to their re-engagement with Iran and those impediments – while theoretically possible to overcome – are proving a prohibitive bar for most banks as they make the commercial decision as to whether to re-engage or support trading activity with Iran. That means that the legal impediments – when combined with the reputational risks of doing business with Iran and the expense of observing U.S., European, and Iranian law – is persuading most non-U.S. banks with a significant U.S. presence to refrain from dealing with Iran.

The singular question for me, then, is whether the U.S. will take action to resolve some of those legal impediments – including by issuing new licenses or more extensive public guidance on the scope of application of existing laws – so as to lower the bar for banks when considering whether to re-engage their Iranian counterparts. Contrary to what some U.S. officials seem to believe – including President Obama himself – the issue is not just one of time – where non-U.S. banks will re-engage Iran over a period of time in which confidence is built – but instead one of surviving U.S. sanctions that pose considerable challenges to re-entry into Iran for non-U.S. banks with a significant U.S. presence.

From what I understand, it is unlikely that such changes will be forthcoming soon. The United States continues to believe that – via additional guidance on and elaboration of current U.S. sanctions, combined with the passage of time and the influx of certain non-U.S. business into Iran – the ongoing difficulties for will be resolved.

True or not, the verdict is still out.