Iran has convinced the US to hold direct talks concerning Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and the administration put an optimistic face on the proceedings.  State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said this:

This is certainly…the first substantive step forward.  For the first time, we had…very detailed discussions.

There’s this, also:

Iran has hinted strongly in recent weeks that it is prepared to take significant steps in return for the US. and Europe rolling back expansive sanctions imposed on Tehran over the past decade.

Among these steps, said officials who have talked with Iranian diplomats, are a possible Iranian freeze on the production of near-weapons-grade fuel, which is uranium enriched to 20% purity.

Against this hope, though, we must place this:

The recognition of Israel as illegitimate is one of the principles of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, and even today the Islamic Republic believes Israel must be destroyed, a senior Iranian cleric close to the supreme leader said Saturday night.

Ayatollah Sayyid Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts—the body that chooses the supreme leader—also condemned any effort for improved relations with America and warned that nothing is ruled out against the United States[.]

And

According to a source in the regime’s intelligence ministry—one who cannot be named for security purposes—the regime is unified in this new tactic of showing a moderate face in order to deceive the West into relieving some sanctions.