Iran live updates: War cost US more than $40B, officials said to lawmakers

The war in Iran has cost at least $43.3 billion as of Sept. 3, defense officials briefed to lawmakers this week, according to two sources familiar and documentation reviewed by ABC News.

The estimate, which came from U.S. Central Command, found that replacing destroyed military equipment cost $4.3 billion and approximately $28 billion has been spent with replacing munitions.

As with the other estimates, the costs associated with the hundreds of buildings destroyed on U.S. bases is not accounted for.

The non partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Iran war will cost at least $2 billion a month and the costs can climb if fighting intensifies.

-ABC News' Steve Beynon

President Donald Trump said in a phone interview with NewsNation Friday that the U.S. is currently "talking" with the Houthis, and claimed the Iran-backed group is looking to secure a deal.

"We're talking to the Houthis also and they would like to see if we can make a deal," he reportedly said.

Trump said something similar in Ireland last week, when he claimed that the U.S. and Houthis have had "discussions."

When asked about his comments to Axios Thursday, in which the president said he has a "big decision" to make on whether or not he should "annihilate" Iran, Trump did not provide NewsNation with new details.

He repeated his insistence that Iran wants to make a deal saying, "we’ll see what happens."

"Right now they want to make a deal. If the deal's not a correct deal then I wouldn't even think about it," he told NewsNation.

-ABC News' Emily Chang

The Houthis will continue to fight "the Saudi enemy" and blockade Saudi ships in the Red Sea, the Houthis' military arm said in a statement Friday.

The statement primarily addressed the Saudi claim that the Houthis had targeted the holy city of Mecca. The Houthis called the claim the "Big Lie" and a "monstrous slander leveled against our people."

"We assert our natural right to respond to this aggression through all legitimate means and forms of retaliation, and we authorize our leadership and army to respond in the appropriate manner," the statement read.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaulé

The average price for a gallon of diesel was still hovering around a record-high of $6.43 as of Friday morning, according to the latest data published by GasBuddy.

Oil prices, meanwhile, edged lower but remained above $100 a barrel. Brent crude oil prices, a benchmark for global trading, were around $103 per barrel as of Friday morning, down roughly 1.3%. WTI crude oil, used as the North American benchmark, was trading at around $102 per barrel down 0.4%.

The nationwide average price for a gallon of regular gas was at $4.47 as of Friday, according to GasBuddy -- up $1.53 since the U.S. war with Iran started.

-ABC News' Zunaira Zaki