Tehran, Iran - Iran and the US agreed to "a set of guiding principles" laying the groundwork for a broader deal during talks in Geneva on Tuesday, Tehran's top diplomat said, after the leaders of both countries traded warnings of military action.

The Omani-mediated talks were aimed at averting the possibility of US military intervention to curb Iran's nuclear program, while Tehran is demanding the lifting of US sanctions that are crippling its economy.

Iran's supreme leader had warned earlier in the day that the country had the ability to sink a US warship recently deployed to the region, while President Donald Trump alluded the day before to unspecified "consequences" should the two sides fail to strike a deal.

"Ultimately, we were able to reach broad agreement on a set of guiding principles, based on which we will move forward and begin working on the text of a potential agreement," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state TV after Tuesday's talks, which he described as "more constructive" than the previous round earlier this month.

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He added that once both sides had come up with draft texts for an agreement, "the drafts would be exchanged and a date for a third round (of talks) would be set."

Araghchi acknowledged, however, that it "will take time to narrow" the gap between both countries' positions.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the two sides had made "good progress," but likewise cautioned, "much work is left to be done."

Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against Iran, first over Iran's deadly crackdown on protesters last month and more recently over its nuclear program.

Washington has ordered two aircraft carriers to the region as it piles on pressure. The first – the USS Abraham Lincoln, with nearly 80 aircraft – was positioned about 700 kilometers from the Iranian coast as of Sunday, satellite images showed.

Its location puts at least a dozen US F‑35s and F‑18 fighter jets within striking distance. A second carrier was dispatched over the weekend.

"I don't think they want the consequences of not making a deal," Trump told reporters ahead of the talks.

But Khamenei followed up with tough talk of his own after the negotiations began, saying Iran possessed weapons able to sink an American warship.

"We constantly hear that they have sent a warship towards Iran. A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it," he said in a speech.

He added that Trump would not succeed in destroying the Islamic republic.