Iran live updates: Trump says US not in 'a hurry' to agree deal

Talks between the U.S. and Iran remain stalled despite the two countries signing a memorandum of understanding in June, aimed at ending the war that began with joint American-Israeli strikes on the country in February. The opening strikes killed a host of top Iranian officials and commanders, among them Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The two sides have continued to exchange strikes, though have not returned to the intense fighting seen in the early stages of the conflict. The U.S. says it is enforcing a naval blockade of the country's Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman ports, while Iran claims control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz and continues to claim attacks on shipping transiting the waterway.

Meanwhile, intensified fighting between Saudi-backed Yemeni forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen has seen the latter repeatedly attack Saudi military, oil infrastructure and transport facilities.

See the most recent developments below.

Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said in comments broadcast by state television on Sunday that Tehran had received a letter from Vice President JD Vance sent in a bid to revive stalled peace talks.

"The tone has completely changed. The tone of this letter is different from the one [President Donald] Trump wrote to the martyred Supreme Leader [Ali Khamenei]," Rezaei said, adding that he had not yet responded to the message.

Rezaei said Tehran is still waiting "for the Americans' final response" to Tehran's latest proposed deal. But Rezaei, who serves as a key military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran will not capitulate.

"If Trump and America are not punished here, tomorrow other countries will think that they can attack Iran without paying a price," he said. "Our most important deterrent is to end this war in a way that ensures no one ever dares to attack Iran again."

-ABC News' Rashid Haddou

Iranian Defense Minister Mehrdad Akhlaghi warned in a statement on Sunday that Tehran is "committed to strengthening combat readiness and ensuring an immediate, effective and proportionate response to any threat, anywhere, without geographical limits."

Akhlaghi's statement -- which was published by the semi-official Mehr News Agency -- came amid concerns that the U.S. and Israel may soon resume strikes on the country amid stalled peace negotiations. President Donald Trump has said that the U.S. will not launch any new attacks until after the midterm elections on Nov. 3.

Several other top Iranian officials and commanders have issued similar warnings. In comments published by Mehr on Sunday, Mohsen Rezaei -- the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a key military adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei -- said any new strikes would be met with "devastating" retaliation."

President Donald Trump said on Saturday during a Halloween event at Mar-a-Lago that the U.S. has no hard timetable regarding negotiations with Iran over a possible deal to end the ongoing war with Iran.

"We're not in that much of a hurry from the standpoint that we've knocked out their navy," Trump said. "We've knocked out their air force, we've knocked out their anti-aircraft, we've knocked out almost every piece of military equipment they have."

Trump also said the U.S. had "knocked out" much of Iran's manufacturing capability and nuclear sites. "We still have to take care of, I would say, one or two sites, but we can do that in ten minutes."

-ABC News' Nicholas Kerr

Even as reports emerge of tankers on fire in the Strait of Hormuz and a series of strikes across the region, Iranian state media has confirmed that a Qatari delegation is now in Tehran to "continue Qatar's mediation efforts."

The delegation's arrival comes amid growing concern that President Donald Trump is preparing military strikes against Iran after the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, in New York, Qatar's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, HE Sheikha Alya, called for the unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz during a Security Council meeting on Friday.

She also emphasized Qatar's "categorical rejection of using the Strait of Hormuz as a means of political pressure." She emphasized that freedom of navigation and transit passage rights through this vital waterway, in accordance with international law, are firmly established principles that are not subject to negotiation.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy is claiming three oil tankers exploded and caught fire while attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz Friday, Iran's state-run television IRIB reported.

The IRGC claimed the tankers were using an "unauthorized route," IRIB reported. The IRGC Navy said a super tanker exploded after hitting a naval mine.

The U.S. military has called past claims from the IRGC, about naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, "false." The claims made by the IRGC have not been verified.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the major difficulty facing France is the rising cost of living, particularly energy prices, which he blamed on the war in Iran.

"The core of what is triggering this purchasing power crisis is the war in Iran, the blockade of Hormuz, the rise in fuel prices," Macron said in an interview with the French YouTuber HugoDecrypte. "It's not a tax increase, it's not a government decision, it's not a pension reform that's triggering this social movement."

France is currently facing nationwide protests, which were set in motion by high school students over learning conditions, but are now fuelled by broader anger over the rising cost of living.

UKMTO said it received a report of a third-party vessel seeing another vessel on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, north of Khasab, Oman.

The status of the crew is unknown, according to the UKMTO.

The Iranian navy claims an oil tanker has struck a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, causing damage and a fire on board, and bringing the vessel to a halt, according to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.

Iran's navy claimed the tanker was navigating through "a prohibited and unsafe zone" east of the Strait of Hormuz when it struck the mine, according to state broadcaster IRIB.

Claims of tankers hitting mines are unverified and maritime security officials have previously said there is no evidence that there are mines in the Strait.

President Donald Trump appeared to confirm on Wednesday that Vice President JD Vance has reached out to members of the Iranian regime after the Wall Street Journal reported that the vice president had sent a letter to Iranian hardliner Mohsen Rezaei at Trump's behest.

Trump denied that he had directed Vance to reach out on the subject of peace negotiations, and instead implied that the U.S. was working to get humanitarian aid into Iran.

"No, what that is, is we -- they need help with medical supplies and various things. He asked me what I thought. I said, if you want to do that, that's OK," Trump said in response to a question on whether he directed Vance to reach out to Iran to restart peace negotiations.

"Basically, it's getting supplies in to help people that are not well," he added.

Trump made the comments on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews while en route to Ohio for a campaign rally.

The Journal reported that the letter was sent with the intention of "testing whether Tehran and Washington could find enough common ground to persuade Trump not to give a final order for a short, intense attack on Iran in the coming weeks."

ABC News has not corroborated the WSJ report. The White House and the vice president's office did not respond to requests for comment.

-ABC News' Nicholas Kerr

The U.S. military now estimates that through mid-October, the war with Iran has cost $47 billion dollars, according to a Pentagon document reviewed by ABC News.

The new figure is a $3.5 billion increase from an earlier estimate of $43.6 billion through mid-September that was also compiled by Pentagon. In mid-July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had told Congress that the war had cost $37.5 billion through that time period.

Close to $29 billion worth of munitions have been expended by the U.S. since the start of the war, according to the document.

The costs of operations is estimated to total $11.9 billion, according to the document.

The document does not contain a cost estimate for the damage that Iranian attacks have caused at large U.S. military bases in the region, but it does say that equipment losses, including U.S. military aircraft, totals $6 billion.

The Trump administration does not include the cost of replacing the damage to the bases because it has yet to determine whether those bases will need to be rebuilt.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

President Donald Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday night that "anything's possible" when asked if the U.S. would resume strikes on Iran, suggesting that the conflict will end when he decides.

"I think with Iran, we're in a very good position. It's a question: When do I want to end it? Simply a question of when do I want to end it," the president said.

Trump again claimed that Iran wants to make a deal, but suggested that Tehran may be waiting for a more favorable environment before they try to do so.

"They want to make a deal, but they've wanted to make a deal, but they like tapping it along. Maybe they're waiting for the election or something, but that's not going to help them," he said.

-ABC News' Alex Ederson

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