weapons. national security experts say allowing russia to increase its stockpile is dangerous and reckless. russia has the world s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons between 6,000 and 7,000 war heads. more than the united states by far. so now with the final iran deal just days, maybe even hours away, we re told the discrepancy between the two sides is a couple of snags, now in place blocking this deal for about a week. one of the main issues here is iran s demand that biden delist their military known as the iran revolutionary guard corps from the terrorist organization. something israel is definitely not on board with. trace. trace: gillian turner live at the state department. thank you. dana: fears of another pandemic as a new covid variant blanket the country and officials want to fight it with a fourth vaccine dose.
despite a possible iran nuclear deal. secretary of state is on what some are calling a reassurance tour in the middle east ahead of the u.s. signing a new renewed nuclear deal with iran. you will recollect president trump withdrew from from that when israel showed its support. the biden team is scrambling to make sure america s closest ally in the region is on board with this before it goes final. take a listen. also work together to confront common security challenges including those from iran and its proxies. dana: the secretary of state meet with the israeli president. they want iran s regime to never obtain a nuclear weapon. last week the state department confirmed they were considering allowing putin to purchase iran s excess enriched uranium. it is used to make nuclear
president has not been very good, either, speaking off the cuff. and the giggling fits are bizarre and can send the wrong message to people overseas. it is difficult. i m not saying there is a solution here or that it is a long-term strategy to have public officials be silent in public but there is something to be said for the well-crafted message that is released from the white house with clarity without ambiguity and without potentially a disastrous mistake. dana: even the washington post had anonymous white house staffers telling the paper that the president had messed up. that s very unusual. james freeman. thank you. you say that with care. thank you so much. trace. secretary of state an tony blinken reassuringing israel and other arab allies the u.s. is committed to their security
certainly not an increased requirement or usage of intensive care beds. israeli study suggests a second booster dose of the pfizer vaccine reduced mortality among seniors by 78%. but dana, back here in the u.s. more than 1/3 of seniors have yet to get their first booster dose. back to you. dana: a couple of questions, jonathan. i read 65% of americans are vaccinated. that has slowed down considerably in the last few weeks. with this also with the booster shot, does the government have enough funds to cover that? it was an issue a week or so ago. i don t know if we can afford to make sure the shots will be free for people over 50. that s one of the concerns. they are calling on congress to approve more funding so that there will be enough boosters to go around. right now it looks like if they approve the second booster dose, the wording will not be this strong recommendation for