Tehran (AFP) – Iran warned on Sunday that any renewed war with the United States could last longer than the previous round of fighting, after President Donald Trump said he still had to "take care" of more targets.

Diplomatic efforts to end the Middle East war have been punctuated by repeated threats from the US and Israel to resume bombardments as they hold crucial elections.

"A potential future war could last longer than previous conflict, and the American president would not be in a position to dictate the timing or the conditions of its conclusion," said army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia, according to Iranian state television.

In the most intense phase of the war, which began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran retaliated with missile and drone attacks across the region. Iran-aligned armed groups joined the fighting in Lebanon and Yemen.

Akraminia's remarks followed Trump's suggestion that the US could swiftly strike its remaining targets in Iran.

"We still have to take care of, I would say one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes," Trump told reporters.

"You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly," he added, referring to a suspected underground nuclear complex.

US media reported that Trump had held a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday over whether and when to ramp up combat operations against Iran.

Axios quoted one US and one Israeli official saying the two leaders discussed the state of negotiations with the Islamic republic, with Netanyahu pressing the president to strike Iran immediately after Tuesday's US midterm elections and Trump eager to let negotiations play out.

The Israeli source described the call as "tough", while the US source said it was "direct", according to Axios.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump confirmed he had discussed Iran with Netanyahu, but would not elaborate.

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