Trump says Iran wants to talk and the US has time to negotiate

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on October 30, 2026 that Iran is seeking dialogue with Washington and that the United States is in no hurry. The Times of Israel reported that, when asked about contacts with Tehran, Trump said there are talks under way and that the Iranians "keep talking," adding: "We have time, frankly."

Israel's N12 news outlet carried the same remarks in Hebrew on its foreign desk feed. In a later N12 update, Trump was quoted as saying the US is holding conversations with Iran, that the Iranians want to talk, and that Washington has time. In the same appearance, according to both outlets, he spoke about the cost of the war with Iran and linked that cost to Venezuela.

What Trump said about the war

Trump characterised the conflict with Iran as something other than a conventional war. The Times of Israel quoted him calling it "not a typical war" and reported his claim that it is not costing American taxpayers much. According to that report, Trump said any money spent had been recovered in Venezuela, which he put at roughly 10 times over.

Trump also told reporters he had spent a lot of money to remove a nuclear weapon, and said this had been achieved, the Times of Israel reported. The outlet presented this as Trump's own assertion. None of the reports offers evidence for it, and Israel.com has not verified it.

N12's account added details that do not appear in the Times of Israel report. According to N12, Trump said Iran is not paying its police or its soldiers. N12 also quoted him as saying the US had been there for seven months without really spending money, and that everything it had spent was earned back in Venezuela.

Two versions of one sentence

The N12 feed revised one line of the quotation within minutes. Its first post rendered Trump as saying the conflict is a war but not really a war. A second N12 post, marked as edited, changed this to a war but not a typical war, which matches the English wording the Times of Israel reported. Readers comparing early Hebrew coverage with English coverage may therefore see slightly different versions of the remark.

There is a smaller difference on Venezuela. The Times of Israel attributes to Trump a specific multiple, about 10 times, for the money recovered there. The N12 posts say only that everything spent was made back in Venezuela, without a figure.

The setting

The comments came during an Oval Office event with Stephen Hubbard, according to the photo caption in the Times of Israel report, which says the event followed Hubbard's release from a Russian penal colony. The reports do not indicate that the Iran remarks were connected to that event beyond the fact that reporters raised the subject while Trump was taking questions.

A White House rapid response account on X also posted a clip of the Iran remarks, the Times of Israel noted, quoting the president as saying there are talks and that Washington has time.

About the outlets

N12 is the news brand of one of Israel's most watched television broadcasters. The quotes cited here were posted on its Telegram channel, which publishes short Hebrew updates attributed to its correspondents and desks; one of the posts was credited to the foreign desk and another to reporter Keren Bezalel. The Times of Israel is an English-language Israeli news site that runs a rolling live blog of developments.

Why the remarks matter to readers in Israel

Trump's statements touch on two questions closely followed in Israel: whether Washington and Tehran are negotiating, and how the US views the fighting with Iran. His description of the situation as a war, together with his reference to having been there for seven months as reported by N12, indicates that from the US president's perspective the conflict is ongoing. His remark that the US has time suggests he does not see an immediate deadline for diplomacy, though he did not elaborate in the reported excerpts.

What the reports do not say

The reports do not identify who is taking part in the talks Trump mentioned, where they are taking place, or at what level. They do not say what is being discussed or whether any proposal is on the table. No response from the Iranian government is included in the material.

The reports do not explain what Trump meant by recovering war costs in Venezuela, and they give no figures for what the US has spent. They do not specify which nuclear weapon Trump said had been removed, or how. His claim that Iran is not paying its police and soldiers appears only in N12's account and is not sourced beyond Trump himself. Finally, there is no indication in the material of any reaction from the Israeli government to the remarks.