TEL AVIV — Israel is reacting with caution after Tehran said on Tuesday that a "guiding principles" agreement had been reached with the United States following a second round of talks in Geneva. 

Israel sees the announcement as a “charm offensive” that should not be trusted, a senior Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “We don’t yet know what happened there and hope that the Iranians didn’t string the American team along in order to buy time. The gaps between the sides are enormous and cannot be bridged," they added, stressing, "The question is: When will the Americans realize that the Iranians are playing games with them?” 

Israel is not ruling out the possibility of a US attack in the near future. “Last time, the president also talked about negotiations and two weeks, and then war broke out,” noted the diplomatic source, adding, “It's not over until it's over, and now it has barely begun.”

It is impossible to determine whether the announcement represents genuine progress in the negotiations or an attempt by Iran to buy more time, the source said. Iran closed parts of the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the day, citing security precautions during a military drill. An unnamed American official confirmed to Axios on Tuesday that more than 50 fighter jets have been sent to the region in the past 24 hours.