Washington: US President Donald Trump spoke briefly to the Axios news outlet on Monday. Asked about how long he was willing to give the diplomatic process, after two nights without US strikes on Iranian targets, he said: "Not much time. Either it goes fast or not at all."

According to Deutsche Welle, Trump was quoted as saying that Washington was in "very deep talks with Iran" - seemingly contradicting the outward claims of the Iranian regime which on Monday said it had not initiated more direct talks - but warning that he was also ready for "strong military action" if diplomacy failed.

This comes as Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and Iran's neighbor Iraq all report drone attacks on Monday, most likely stemming from Iran or its proxies.