WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the United States launched strikes on Iran, as Tehran warned no one would benefit from a return to war.
It came as US voters prepared to cast their ballots in midterm elections that threaten Trump's grip on power.
But Trump played down speculation he was preparing to resume bombing Iran once the polls were out of the way.
"We seem to be getting everything we want," Trump told Britain's Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday.
"I'm ready, we're ready. We're locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it."
Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the Islamic republic was "ready for battle with its finger on the trigger", while Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran retained the right to "legitimate self-defence" after the strikes.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said his government was still trying to resolve the crisis "through dialogue" though, adding that "no one will benefit from this war" if it reignited.
Pezeshkian emphasised that the country's supreme leader had recently granted the government new powers to negotiate issues that were previously "off-limits".
Trump confirmed the strikes on Iran in an interview with Fox News, after US media reported strikes on Tehran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
"They built an anti-aircraft facility... As soon as it was completed, we hit it last night very nicely," Trump said on the "Fox & Friends" show, adding that it was a "minor attack".
- 'Iran wants a settlement' -
The war, triggered in February when the United States and Israel pummelled Iran in a massive wave of strikes, has been at a stalemate for months.
An Israeli military spokesperson told AFP that Israel was not involved in the latest reported strikes.
The Qeshm attack came just hours after Trump signalled that a deal with Tehran "could happen", shortly before polls opened in the midterms dominated by public dissatisfaction with the war and the inflation it has stoked.
"Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Ghalibaf said Iran had made its position clear and that "the ball is now in America's court to prevent war".
Qatar, a mediator in protracted indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, said it remained hopeful of an interim deal in the war.
Both sides "are currently reviewing the ideas and proposals we have presented," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told reporters.
"We remain hopeful that there is still a chance for a deal to take place," he said, adding Doha was working "towards an interim deal".
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed on Monday that indirect negotiations were taking place.
- Reopen the strait -
US vice president JD Vance said both he and Trump were optimistic about securing an agreement.
"We've certainly made some progress. We'll see if we can make some more," Vance told reporters on Monday.
A senior Iranian official said that Tehran was ready to reopen Hormuz, a key energy corridor, within two days but only if Washington agreed to its long-standing list of demands.
In September, Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the strait, with demands including ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
"The possibility of implementing this plan in two days is another indication of Iran's good-faith approach," Tehran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters at a briefing.
In the lead-up to Tuesday's vote, Trump kept up his threats against Tehran, saying on Sunday that the United States may have to give Iran "the hammer" at some unspecified time.
The threat came after the US leader said he still had to "take care" of one or two targets, including so-called Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran, a suspected nuclear site which Tehran denies is such a facility.
Iranian officials have repeatedly warned of wide-ranging retaliation if Washington resumes the war.
- AFP