US President Donald Trump bristled when asked how far he was from a possible attack on Iran.
He recently said on social media he would not hit Iran again before the Nov 3 midterm elections.
"Do you really think I'm going to tell you if I'm going to do it?" Trump told reporters here on Saturday.
"And there's a possibility I will. There's also a possibility we'll have a nice, big, beautiful agreement," he said in response to a question.
Trump repeated his assertion that Iran wants to make a deal, "but the problem is, will they hold the deal?"
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused Washington of disrupting negotiations to end the war but said he still believes "we have to go and finish it".
In comments aired on state television, he said Iran's supreme leader had instructed Iranian officials to "go and finish it (the deal)," but "these scoundrels broke the rules of the game. We were holding talks, and they disrupted them".
Anxiety has been growing in Iran and elsewhere that the US or Israel will resume attacks before or just after Tuesday's elections in Israel or the US midterm elections.
The US sends more warships and Marines to the Middle East, while intelligence officials warn that Iranian plots against American personnel have reached “advanced stages,” the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Two US aircraft carrier strike groups are operating in the Middle East, a third is approaching from the Pacific, and an amphibious assault ship carrying Marines is also being deployed, the report said.
The buildup comes as US intelligence chief Jay Clayton warned Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a memo Friday that Iran had significantly increased efforts to target Americans.
Washington has also ordered diplomatic and military personnel to leave some locations as security concerns grow.
The Pentagon has reportedly presented Trump with options ranging from strikes on nuclear facilities and infrastructure, including bridges, to operations targeting Iranian-controlled islands. No final decision has been announced.
The administration is weighing its options ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, the report said, while warning that renewed strikes could trigger Iranian retaliation, put US forces at greater risk and push global energy prices higher.