HMM: Iran and US agree on ‘guiding principles’ of nuclear deal, Tehran says.

American and Iranian negotiators have hashed out “guiding principles” for an agreement during the second round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, according to Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

“We were able to reach a general agreement on a set of guiding principles, based on which we will proceed from now on and move toward drafting a potential agreement,” Araghchi told state TV from Geneva, where the talks were held.

“This does not mean that we can quickly reach a final agreement, but at least the path has begun.”

A US official agreed that “progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss. The Iranians said they would come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to address some of the open gaps in our positions.”

The Trump administration has insisted that Iran expand the talks to cover its ballistic missile program and the treatment of anti-regime protesters — topics that Tehran has insisted are off the table.

“Jaw, jaw is better than war, war,” but with a second CVN on the way to the region, this story feels a little more like “The art of saying ‘nice doggie’ until you can pick up a rock.”

We’ll see.