Trump says 'not looking to kill lots of people' in Iran after midterms

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was "not looking to kill lots of people" in Iran following the midterm elections, while warning that Washington would take decisive action if necessary.

"Look, I'm not looking to, you know, kill lots of people, but if we have to, we'll have to," Trump told Fox News amid reports that the US was weighing strikes on Iran following the polling.

BREAKING: "I'm not looking to, you know, kill lots of people, but if we have to, we'll have to."

President Trump delivers a blunt warning on what comes next in the war in Iran, pointing to the U.S. operation in Venezuela as an example of how quickly American military force can… pic.twitter.com/FI1J6vmWZ7

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 3, 2026

Trump said American forces struck a newly completed Iranian anti-aircraft installation overnight after monitoring its construction for over two months. "Just a minor attack. It wasn't war."

"It's just a minor attack. It wasn't war."

President Trump reveals U.S. forces struck an Iranian anti-aircraft facility overnight, describing the operation as limited rather than a major military escalation.

Trump says Iran spent roughly two months building the facility while… pic.twitter.com/9Yi0G0jEAD

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 3, 2026

Citing a US official, local media reported that the US military carried out "defensive" strikes against Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday.

The US president argued that the confrontation with Iran differed from traditional wars such as the Russia-Ukraine war or World War II, asserting that Washington held total leverage over Tehran after crippling its naval and air assets during the ongoing Iran war.

"We have them totally where we want. We could finish them off, or we could be nice and let thousands of people live that would get killed in a war," he said.

IRGC claims shooting down two more US drones

The US carried out strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, a US official said on Monday. The strikes, earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal, appeared to be limited and were not a resumption of major combat operations, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Another official said the strikes were defensive measures against Iranians using surface-to-air missiles against US assets.

The Pentagon referred a request for comment to the US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East. CENTCOM did not respond to requests for comment.

Earlier on Monday, Iranian state media outlet IRNA reported that there were several explosions on Qeshm Island. The Journal reported that the attack was the latest in a series of strikes carried out by Washington in recent weeks. Fox News, citing officials, said the strikes were defensive and carried out in response to Iran firing at a US aircraft.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported five explosions on Qeshm Island, located in the Strait of Hormuz. Separately, the semi-official Fars news agency said explosions were heard coming from the direction of the sea in Bandar Lengeh in Hormozgan province.

Read: Tehran engaged in ‘intensive shuttle diplomacy’ through Qatari, Pakistani mediators: Araghchi

The cause of the explosions was not immediately known. Neither agency provided details on casualties or damage. The reports come amid continued diplomatic efforts between Tehran and Washington over tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Monday that the two countries were continuing to exchange messages through mediators. He confirmed that Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi had visited Doha to facilitate the exchanges through Qatari mediation.

Iran delivers ‘firm, rational’ response to US, says ‘ball in America’s court to prevent war’

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday that Tehran has delivered a “firm and rational” response to Washington, stressing that the US must now decide whether to prevent another war.

Speaking during a parliamentary session, Ghalibaf, who is also leading Iran’s negotiating team in talks with the US, said Tehran remained prepared for both diplomacy and military confrontation.

“Iran has delivered a firm and rational response to the American side, and now the ball is in America’s court to prevent war,” he said.

He stressed that Iran’s armed forces remained at the highest level of defensive readiness.

“If Washington makes another strategic mistake, it should know that this time it will face a new battlefield and will find itself even more desperate to seek a way out,” he warned.

Ghalibaf also accused the US of pursuing a longstanding policy aimed at dominating Iran, saying Washington had previously relied on compliant governments but now employed military, economic and psychological warfare.

He said Iran would not surrender to military threats, warning that any miscalculation by Washington would trigger an unpredictable response.

Ghalibaf added that Iran’s military response to any renewed attack would not be limited by geographical boundaries.

Iran's foreign minister says talks with Saudi Arabia are ongoing; Yemen fighting intensifies

Talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia are ongoing as Tehran aims to reach new regional security arrangements for countries in the region without foreign military involvement, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X on Tuesday.

أكدتُ في حواري مع شبكة الجزيرة أننا لا نكنّ أي عداء لدول مجلس التعاون، ونثمّن الدور الإيجابي الذي تؤديه قطر وعُمان، ونواصل الحوار مع السعودية. هدفنا الوصول إلى ترتيبات أمنية إقليمية جديدة تقوم بها دول المنطقة نفسها، بعيدًا عن أي وجود عسكري أجنبي. https://t.co/19ER3bOjoW

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) November 3, 2026

Last week, top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran, the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations since August. The US-Israeli war on Iran started in late February, and since then, fighting has spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Riyadh said the visit was intended to open negotiating channels to "prevent the return of military escalation," as fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis had intensified in recent weeks.

Houthi attacks on the kingdom escalated as the powerful militia advanced towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping chokepoint that lies on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz.

The Houthis have also attacked Saudi oil facilities and airports, including Riyadh's international airport, disrupting flights and oil exports and drawing Saudi airstrikes on Yemen in response.

Impoverished Yemen has been mired in a civil war since the Houthis pushed the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government out of the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

Iran-US deal still out of reach, senior Iranian official tells Reuters

Iran and the United States are far from reaching a deal to end the war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday, adding that Tehran would not accept Washington's "excessive demands".

The comments come at a time of heightened diplomatic efforts, with Qatar acting as a key intermediary, to prevent a potential return to active conflict after the midterms.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it downed 2 US drones in Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that it downed two US drones south of Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

The report said the IRGC Aerospace Force used electronic warfare systems against the two MQM-170 drones, bringing the number of aircraft of that type reportedly captured by Iranian forces to four. Tasnim said the operation had prevented the drones from completing their missions. It provided no other operational details.

The report follows two similar Iranian announcements last week.

Read more: Iran warns US of prolonged war after Trump signals more strikes

On Friday, the IRNA news agency reported that the IRGC Aerospace Force downed an MQM-170 drone over Qeshm Island using electronic warfare systems.

On Thursday, the IRGC Navy said it had seized control of another drone of the same type in the western Strait of Hormuz and landed it intact. The US military rejected Iran’s account of Thursday’s incident.

The latest report comes amid ongoing indirect diplomatic contacts between Tehran and Washington.

US, Iran have made progress toward negotiated settlement: Vance

US Vice President JD Vance said on Monday that Washington has made “progress” in talks with Iran, saying he and President Donald Trump feel “pretty good” about reaching a negotiated settlement.

“I actually just spoke with the president of the United States about an hour ago about this,” Vance told reporters. “Look, the president and I both feel pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement. We’re going to keep on working at it.”

“The Iranians are always a little unpredictable, and as the president always says, he retains kinetic options. He retains non-kinetic options, but we’ve certainly made some progress. We’ll see if we can make some more,” he said.

Asked whether Iran had been given a deadline before strikes resume, Vance said: “No, we haven’t set deadlines.”

“Having destroyed their nuclear program, we want to make sure they don’t rebuild it or try to rebuild it. That’s what matters most to the United States,” he said.

“We do think that there is a pathway there, but it really does require a firm commitment and a verifiable commitment that they don’t rebuild that nuclear program,” he added.

Vance's remarks came hours after Trump said at the reopening of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington that Iran wants to make a deal to end the conflict, now in its ninth month.

“They want to make a deal, and that could happen,” Trump said, adding that Iran had asked Washington to stop targeting its leaders, “and we will.”