US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States had destroyed a large part of Iran's nuclear capabilities but still had to "deal with" one or two sites, while Tehran threatened to retaliate in the event of further strikes.

The war began on February 28 with joint US-Israeli strikes against Iran, which retaliated by targeting, among others, Gulf states allied with Washington. A ceasefire in April ended nearly 40 days of intense bombing, and a memorandum of understanding aimed at definitively ending the conflict was reached in June.

But the fragile agreement collapsed this summer, with the Strait of Hormuz at the heart of the conflict. Iran, which claims control of this crucial maritime route for the global transport of hydrocarbons, regularly targets ships venturing into it without its authorization.

On Saturday, Mr. Trump said that it was necessary to "deal with" Mount Kolang, called "Pickaxe Mountain" in English ("Kolang" means "pickaxe" in Persian), located about 200 km south of Tehran, near the Natanz nuclear complex.

"We still have, I would say, one or two sites to take care of, but we can do that in ten minutes (...). You could probably look at Pickaxe Mountain, and that needs to be taken care of. We can do all of that very quickly," he told reporters at his Florida residence.

Press reports suggest a possible short and intense military campaign following the US midterm elections scheduled for Tuesday.

- "Unique opportunity" -

Mr. Netanyahu this week spoke of "a unique historic opportunity" for Israel with the American president to "definitively eliminate the existential threat" from Iran, Israel's sworn enemy.

Earlier on Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said from Atlanta, where the G20 is being held, that Mr. Trump had made "no decision", while adding that he favoured a "diplomatic solution".

Previously, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had warned of "an immediate, powerful and geographically unlimited response" in the event of further strikes.

"If the enemies launch military or terrorist attacks again, it is the armed forces of the Islamic Republic and the Iranian people who will determine the time and conditions of their end," stressed the supreme leader in a written statement, who has remained invisible since his appointment in early March.

He also ordered military officials to update the target list to include "all types of tangible and intangible assets belonging to the American-Zionist enemy."

Iran has already threatened to target data centers and artificial intelligence systems, as well as undersea cables in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

While negotiations are underway under the auspices of the Qatari mediator, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he "did not see the need for a meeting with the Americans".

"If the United States accepts Iran's conditions, then Tehran will decide whether negotiations should be direct or indirect," the minister added, in remarks on Al Jazeera reported by the official IRNA news agency.

- "We're waiting for war" -

In the streets of Tehran, the possible resumption of a large-scale war is on everyone's mind.

"Unfortunately, we are a people who, in a way, are waiting for war, simply because we have been living in limbo for a year," Farima, 62, told AFP.

Ebrahim, however, is not worried: "We are not afraid of another war, we have been at war for 48 years," says this forty-year-old salesman, referring to the advent of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

The Strait of Hormuz is at the heart of the conflict. On Saturday, an oil tanker "caught fire after hitting mines," the army said, as quoted by state television, while Washington asserted that it had largely cleared the area of mines.