ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he is “in no hurry” to make a deal with Iran, adding that military action against the country is still on the table, as the two warring sides move closer towards a potential deal.

“We're getting what we want slowly. Very tough negotiators [Iran]. It takes a long time. I'm in no hurry,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News which aired on Saturday.

“Slowly but surely we're getting, I think, what we want and if we don't get what we want, we're gonna end it a different way,” he asserted.

The New York Times, citing three US officials, on Saturday reported that Trump had responded to the latest proposal being sent back and forth between Washington and Tehran, adding it was not immediately clear what changes had been made to the proposal.

Two officials said that he had been concerned about unfreezing funds for the Iranians, according to the American outlet.

Trump said he would prefer making a deal because it would open the Strait of Hormuz “immediately,” despite Iran’s military being “essentially defeated.”

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway responsible for the transport of roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil, as a means in its war against the US and Israel which started in late February, sharply driving up global oil prices.

The US in turn imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, which Trump says costs Iran $500 million daily.

On Friday, Trump laid out a set of conditions Iran must agree to in order to advance toward a peace agreement, including never having a nuclear weapon, fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz and removing all mines, and destroying all of its enriched uranium, while announcing that the naval blockade on Iranian ports “will now be lifted.”

The main reason cited by the US for launching attacks on Iran has been its nuclear program, which Iran has repeatedly said is for peaceful purposes.

In June last year, the US and Israel bombed key nuclear facilities across Iran, killing their top nuclear scientists in the process.

“The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They've agreed to that - and it was very interesting. They originally said we will not develop a nuclear weapon. I said well, what happens if you buy a nuclear weapon? So now it says we will not develop or in any way purchase a military weapon,” Trump said.

In recent months, Pakistan has acted as the official mediator between the warring sides, with a first round of talks being held in Islamabad in April, shortly after the initial ceasefire was announced. The talks resulted in no deal.

Since then, the two sides have sent proposals to continue peace talks back and forth, with Tehran calling Washington’s demands excessive and Washington dubbing Tehran’s unacceptable.

Although the ceasefire largely stopped hostilities between the warring sides, flare-ups in the Strait of Hormuz have led to minor clashes.

On Sunday Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it downed a US drone in its “territorial waters,” as the already-shaky ceasefire continues being tested.