President Donald Trump warned that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons either through a new deal to replace the 2015 nuclear agreement, or airstrikes on the country’s atomic facilities.

Speaking with Fox News on Monday night, the president said that while he preferred to resolve the issue via negotiations, he will not allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.

“Everyone thinks Israel, with our help or our approval, will go in and bomb the hell out of [Iran],” Trump said.

“I would prefer that not happen. I’d much rather see a deal with Iran where we can do a deal, supervise, check it, inspect it, and then blow it up or just make sure that there’s no more nuclear.”

Trump went on to deride the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed by the Obama administration, as “the dumbest deal.”

“By the way, that would have expired by now. That was a road to a nuclear weapon. It was a short-term deal,” Trump said of the JCPOA’s sunset clause, under which certain restrictions would automatically end after 10 years.

“You can’t make a deal with just a few years on it. That deal would be expired by now. Think of it. And they would have a legal right to have a nuclear weapon.”

“You cannot allow Iran, or just about anybody else, by the way, but especially Iran, because they are very militant. You can’t allow them to have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump claimed that Iran’s leadership is “very concerned” over Tehran’s increasing isolation regionally and internationally, following Israeli airstrikes last year, the new sanctions imposed by the Trump White House and the loss of key allies  over the past six months including the Assad regime, Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, and Hamas’ Yahya Sinwar.

“But there’s two ways of stopping them, with bombs or with a written piece of paper. And I’d much rather do a deal that’s a deal that’s not going to hurt them.”

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

“They’ve had some very bad moments. The whole thing with the [Hezbollah] pagers was a disaster for them. The pagers, you know what I’m talking about.”

“It was a horrible thing, but it was, you know, it knocked out a lot of leadership like nobody’s ever seen before. But I think Iran is very nervous. I think they’re scared. I think Iran would love to make a deal, and I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them.”

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree on Monday ending the notorious “pay-for-slay” program, which provides stipends to jailed Palestinian terrorists and the families of slain terrorists.

Despite the move, widely perceived as part of an overture to the Trump administration, a PA mouthpiece has reported that Ramallah is creating an alternative mechanism for funding jailed terrorists and the families of slain terrorists.

Although Abbas indicated Monday he was ending this program, the PA’s WAFA outlet reported that the payments are merely being transferred from the Ministry of Social Development to the National Palestinian Economic Empowerment Institution, an entity under PA control.

Additionally, families of terrorists will remain eligible for financial aid under the same criteria as needy families.

A decision was made to allow Israel to cease its policy of deducting tax funds from payments to terrorists and their families.

Hamas condemned the PA’s apparent cancellation of the program, stating, “We condemn his decision to cancel the payments to the families of the prisoners, the dead, and the wounded, and to abandon the national cause at a time when our people and the resistance forces are working to safeguard the rights of the released prisoners and to ensure their lives.”

Before this decision, there was already a downward trend in the payments terrorist families received for attacks.

According to research, the Palestinian Authority’s payments under the “pay-for-slay” program decreased by 30 to 40% in 2024, despite an expected increase.

Col. (res.) Adv. Maurice Hirsch, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, identified several factors contributing to this decline.

First, bureaucratic difficulties have arisen since Red Cross representatives have been barred from visiting prisons.

Second, Hirsch stated, “The economic pressure on the Palestinian Authority has reached an unprecedented level. According to new data from the Finance Ministry, Israel has deducted approximately NIS 3 billion from PA funds as of November 2024.”

A third factor is the ongoing war in Gaza, which has disrupted the transfer of funds and the documentation required to access them.