Trump Believes Nuclear Deal Possible with ‘Scared’ and ‘Weakened’ Iran

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 46th anniversary of the 1979 revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 10, 2025. (Reuters)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 46th anniversary of the 1979 revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump Believes Nuclear Deal Possible with ‘Scared’ and ‘Weakened’ Iran

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 46th anniversary of the 1979 revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 10, 2025. (Reuters)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 46th anniversary of the 1979 revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 10, 2025. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump predicted on Monday that Washington would make a deal with Iran to prevent it from developing its nuclear program, but added that Tehran is very frightened because its defenses have been allegedly destroyed in an Israeli strike last year.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said Iran's military vulnerabilities appeared to have left it in a weakened position, making negotiations more appealing than confrontation.

He said he prefers diplomacy over military escalation. “I'd much rather see a deal with Iran where we can do a deal, supervise, check it, inspect it,” he stated, adding that Israel will not attack Iran if an agreement is reached between Washington and Tehran.

“Iran is very concerned. Iran is very frightened, to be honest with you, because their defense is pretty much gone,” Trump said.

“Everybody thinks Israel - with our help or our approval - will go in and bomb the hell out of them,” Trump said, stressing that Israel would need US support for such a strike.

In Tehran, President Masoud Pezeshkian continued to sharply criticize the US, while hardline newspapers applauded his speech marking the anniversary of the 1979 revolution on Monday.

In reference to the order that Trump signed last week to design new sanctions on Iran, Pezeshkian said, “Those who engage in bullying, massacres, and provision of weapons of mass destruction to those who kill innocent people are the ones initiating war and bloodshed.”

“Only in peace and harmony can we truly host and welcome each other,” he said.

“Iran is doing outreach in the region and also globally, seeking more peaceful relations,” he remarked. “If the US were sincere about negotiations, why did they sanction us?”

He said Tehran “does not seek war...but will not yield to foreign pressure.”

On Friday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said talks with the US were “not smart, wise, or honorable,” but he stopped short of renewing a ban on direct talks with Washington decreed during the first Trump administration in 2018.

Echoing Khamenei’s statement, the parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said on Monday: “Negotiation with the US is not prohibited but has proven irrational and damaging.”

The Ham-Mihan newspaper said: “Pezeshkian’s speech supports the Supreme Leader’s position on Trump.” In its editorial, the Arman Amroz newspaper described Trump as a “crazy delusional.”



UN Says 14 Million Children Did Not Receive a Single Vaccine in 2024

A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
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UN Says 14 Million Children Did Not Receive a Single Vaccine in 2024

A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)

More than 14 million children did not receive a single vaccine last year — about the same number as the year before — according to UN health officials. Nine countries accounted for more than half of those unprotected children.

In their annual estimate of global vaccine coverage, released Tuesday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said about 89% of children under one year old got a first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine in 2024, the same as in 2023. About 85% completed the three-dose series, up from 84% in 2023.

Officials acknowledged, however, that the collapse of international aid this year will make it more difficult to reduce the number of unprotected children.

In January, US President Trump withdrew the country from the WHO, froze nearly all humanitarian aid and later moved to close the US AID Agency. And last month, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said it was pulling the billions of dollars the US had previously pledged to the vaccines alliance Gavi, saying the group had “ignored the science.”

Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has previously raised questions the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine, which has proven to be safe and effective after years of study and real-world use. Vaccines prevent 3.5 million to 5 million deaths a year, according to UN estimates.

“Drastic cuts in aid, coupled with misinformation about the safety of vaccines, threaten to unwind decades of progress,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

UN experts said that access to vaccines remained “deeply unequal” and that conflict and humanitarian crises quickly unraveled progress; Sudan had the lowest reported coverage against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

The data showed that nine countries accounted for 52% of all children who missed out on immunizations entirely: Nigeria, India, Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Angola.

WHO and UNICEF said that coverage against measles rose slightly, with 76% of children worldwide receiving both vaccine doses. But experts say measles vaccine rates need to reach 95% to prevent outbreaks of the extremely contagious disease. WHO noted that 60 countries reported big measles outbreaks last year.

The US is now having its worst measles outbreak in more than three decades, while the disease has also surged across Europe, with 125,000 cases in 2024 — twice as many as the previous year, according to WHO.

Last week, British authorities reported a child died of measles in a Liverpool hospital. Health officials said that despite years of efforts to raise awareness, only about 84% of children in the UK are protected.

“It is hugely concerning, but not at all surprising, that we are continuing to see outbreaks of measles,” said Helen Bradford, a professor of children’s health at University College London.

“The only way to stop measles spreading is with vaccination,” she said in a statement. “It is never too late to be vaccinated — even as an adult.”