In a Friday interview with Fox, President Trump said Iran's nuclear program has been significantly set back and claimed that Tehran is now seeking an agreement with Washington.

He indicated in a somewhat surprising remark that a deal is likely, emphasizing that the situation has changed drastically in recent months, since the June US bombings of three key Iranian nuclear facilities. "They want to make a deal, and we will probably reach one," he said.

Trump went on to describe what he views as broader regional shifts in the Middle East, commenting that the list of those interested in signing onto the historic Abraham Accords normalization program with Israel "keeps growing".

He hailed the unprecedented opportunity for peace, also nothing that the crisis with Hezbollah in Lebanon is now abating as well.

Trump actually said something similar during a Wednesday US-Saudi business forum in Washington DC, during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit this week.

Speaking of strikes on Tehran, Trump told the audience, "We took the Dark Cloud away from your country, it was called Iran and its nuclear capability, and we obliterated that very quickly and strongly and powerfully. But that was a real cloud over the whole Middle East," he said.

"Now they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal. They want to see if they can work out a deal with us, and we'll be doing that probably. But that was a terrible cloud that you had to live with for a long time," he added.

But the reality remains that Iranian leaders see little incentive in making another deal (after the collapsed JCPOA) which the US could just pull out of at any time. 

This is also as prior to the June war with the Israel, Tehran had been actively engaged in good faith nuclear negotiations with Washington. But that was just a ruse, and the Islamic Republic suffered a major surprise assault from Israel and the US. There will be a perpetual 'trust' problem, to say the least.

Despite constantly proclaiming that it only has a peaceful nuclear energy program, the Iranians now have every incentive to possibly develop nuclear weapons in secret. This could eventually prove the major 'blowback' to the US decisions to mount unprovoked attacks on the country's nuclear centers.