President Obama told the nation Tuesday evening that the United States remains committed to keeping Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold. “Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal,” he said in his state of the union address (full text) before a joint session of Congress. However, he noted that “a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better,” and stated that Iran could “rejoin the community of nations” if it changes course. Already, by leveraging “the power of diplomacy,” the world has united to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its destabilizing nuclear ambitions, said Obama. “The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent,” he said. Obama also used the speech to reaffirm the United States’ “ironclad commitment” to Israel’s security, and propose a Veterans Jobs Corps to “help our communities hire veterans as cops and firefighters, so that America is as strong as those who defend her.”
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.