The President's Daily Brief - February 9th, 2026: U.S. Alleges Secret Chinese Nuclear Tests & Iran Talks Breakdown

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: First up— the United States publicly accuses China of conducting secret nuclear tests, raising new questions about whether the long-standing taboo on nuclear testing is beginning to erode. We break down what’s being alleged, what’s disputed, and why the timing matters. Later in the show— the latest on talks between the United States and Iran, as President Trump says negotiations were productive, even as Iranian officials publicly push back and insist key differences remain unresolved. Plus— more unrest in Pakistan, where authorities arrest four suspects linked to a deadly suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the capital. And in today’s Back of the Brief— the U.S. Navy brings science fiction closer to reality, successfully using a ship-mounted laser weapon to shoot down drones at sea. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Cardiff: Get fast business funding without bank delays—apply in minutes with Cardiff and access up to $500,000 in same‑day funding at https://Cardiff.co/PDB  Trust & Will: Estate planning doesn’t have to be complicated—create your will or trust online in minutes with Trust & Will and get 20% off at https://trustandwill.com/PDB  StopBox: Get firearm security redesigned and save 15% off @StopBoxUSA with code BAKER at https://www.stopboxusa.com/BAKER#stopboxpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Monday, the 9th of February. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. And yes, I do happen to be back on the road. All right, let's get briefed. First up, the U.S. publicly accuses China of conducting secret nuclear tests. Uh-oh.

Raising new questions about whether the longstanding freeze on nuclear testing is starting to thaw. Well, it sounds like it is. We'll walk through what's being alleged. Later in the show, the latest on talks between the U.S. and Iran, as President Trump says discussions were productive, while Iranian officials publicly push back on that description. They don't think they were productive. Plus, more turmoil in Pakistan, as authorities arrest four suspects linked to a deadly mosque bombing in the capital. And in today's back of the brief, the U.S. Navy brings science fiction a step closer to reality, using a laser weapon to take down drones at the capital. see how very doctor evil of them. But first, today's PDB spotlight. For decades, there's been one nuclear redline that even bitter rivals treated as untouchable. No nuclear testing. Treaties frayed, trust eroded, stockpiles grew, but the taboo against detonating nuclear weapons, even underground, well, that largely held until now. This weekend in Geneva, a senior U.S. official

publicly accused China of secretly conducting yield-producing nuclear tests, including at least one in the June of 2020. According to the State Department, these were not computer simulations or subcritical experiments, but actual nuclear explosions, deliberately designed to be small enough to evade detection. Now, if that allegation proves to be true, it represents a major shift, and it's arriving at an especially dangerous moment. As we reported just last week, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia, known as New Start, has officially expired. While both sides have agreed to continue to abide by it, the reality is, for the first time in roughly half a century, there are now no binding limits on the world's two largest nuclear

arsenals. And China, which was never included in that treaty, while they continue to rapidly expand their stockpile. So let's review what's being claimed here. The accusation came from Undersecretary state Thomas DeNano, who told an international disarmament forum that the Chinese military conducted at least one low-yield nuclear explosion and prepared for others with yields in the hundreds of tons. That's far smaller than Cold War era tests, but still well beyond what would be permitted under global test-band norms. DeNano said China used a technique known as, quote, decoupling, essentially muffling an underground explosion to make it harder for seismic sensors around the world to detect. According to the U.S. assessment, the goal was simple, test weapons without getting

caught. For its part, China, of course, flatly denies the charge, accusing Washington of exaggerating a so-called, quote, China nuclear threat and fueling an arms race. And here's where the story gets even more complicated. The international body, responsible for monitoring nuclear tests, says it did not detect a nuclear explosion on the date the U.S. cited. Oh, well done. you. I've never known an international body or organization to waffle on anything when it comes to calling out China. However, experts acknowledge that extremely low-yield tests could potentially slip through monitoring networks. However, regardless, evidence does remain thin. So right now we're left in a gray zone, competing claims, and limited transparency. For years, nuclear testing wasn't

just restricted. It was treated as reckless, unnecessary, and destabilizing. Even nations' modern their arsenals, insisted they could do so without setting off actual explosions. And that consensus helped keep nuclear programs somewhat predictable. Now, senior officials are openly questioning whether rivals are already testing and whether the U.S. should reconsider its own restraint. President Trump has repeatedly suggested that if adversaries are testing, the U.S. may need to respond on an equal basis. Administration officials have stopped short of confirming any plans, but they're no longer ruling anything out. At the same time, China is in the middle of the fastest nuclear expansion seen anywhere in decades.

U.S. intelligence estimates place China's current stockpoll at roughly 600 warheads, with projections of 1,000 by the end of the decade, and as many as 1,500 by the mid-2030s. Now, that's still below U.S. and Russian levels, but the trajectory is obviously concerning. And Beijing continues to refuse to participate. and new arms control talks, arguing that its arsenal is too small to justify limits. Oh. The guardrails at once constrained, nuclear competition appear to be bending. The treaties are gone.

Trust seems hard to find, although honestly trust means nothing without verification, which has always been problematic. And now, even the unwritten rules like, we don't test anymore, are being openly questioned. If nuclear testing quietly resumes, even at low yields, It would accelerate weapons development, deepen mistrust, and raise the risk of miscalculation. It would also make future arms control far harder, because once the established protocols or norms are abandoned, well, they can be very difficult to restore. At this point, we don't yet know with certainty whether China crossed the testing line,

but the fact that the accusation is being made publicly at this moment indicates that the U.S. feels it has sufficient evidence to go public. All right. Coming up next, Washington and Tehran trade conflicting messages over nuclear talks, while Pakistan moves quickly to arrest suspects linked to a deadly mosque attack in Islamabad. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here with an important message for every small business out there. Now, small businesses face an uphill battle with big banks, where getting a loan means endless paperwork and delays. For bank rates without the weight, here's what you can do. Go to Cardiff.com. CEO slash PDB for up to $500,000 in funding. Uh-huh, that's right. Their application takes less than five

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As we've been tracking here on the PDB, the talks at Oman on Friday followed declarations of red lines and a somewhat unclear promise to the protesters that, quote, help is on its way. In the end, the Trump White House stopped short of action after building up a formidable military presence off the coast of Iran. The Trump administration has kept pressure on the mullahs as they engaged in their violent crackdown on internal protests, moving additional military assets into the region, of course, and warning the Islamic Republic that force remains an option,

if they didn't come to the negotiating table. Following the Oman talks, Trump told reporters, quote, Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly. We have to see what that deal is, end quote. As a long time, PDB listeners will know, these are the first negotiations between Washington and Tehran since the U.S. and Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic last summer. The Trump administration is treating this new channel as an opening, not a breakthrough, a test of whether the growing U.S. military presence in the region has worked

to move Iran to the table, or whether the regime is simply foot-dragging to block a delay as it regains control inside Iran. I vote for the latter choice there. Even as they continue to rebuild their ballistic missile program, by the way, in part with the assistance of China. Now, as Trump described the talks as productive, Iranian officials immediately disagreed and signaled that core disputes remain unresolved. Iranian foreign minister of Osirakchi called a meeting a, quote, good start. But even that came with a warning. The head of the talks, he said Iran was entering diplomacy with, quote, open eyes and a steady memory of the past year, a clear reference to last summer's military strikes and the collapse of earlier negotiations. But he later reiterated that Iran had not retreated from if, red lines. Now, when Iranian regime officials talk about red lines, they're referring to positions

Tehran considers non-negotiable. Most notably, its insistence on continuing uranium enrichment and its refusal to put its ballistic missile program proxy networks or violent reaction to domestic unrest on the negotiating table. Now, is it just me, or does it seem like coutowing to the mullahs and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps if the White House allows them to dictate the terms and parameters of any talks. And the regime's resistance wasn't limited to careful diplomatic language. As spokesman for Iran's parliamentary national security committee dismissed Trump's characterization of the talks, calling him a, quote, liar,

and insisting Tehran has not softened its position. Well, it seems like when you kill thousands of your own citizens, suddenly somehow you feel like you're back in the driver's seat. Despite that sharp rhetoric, both sides are leaving the door open, to what I'm not quite sure. They've agreed in principle to hold follow-on. discussions. Speaking to Board Air Force One, Trump said another round of talks could take place early this week, though Arakchi poured cold water on that timeline, saying no date has yet been set.

Let me explain how these talks actually worked, because the format itself tells you a lot about how fragile, or maybe the word I'm looking for is useless, this discussion channel still is. As I mentioned, the negotiations were indirect, with Oman's foreign minister acting as the intermediary between the U.S. and Iranian delegations. American side, envoy Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner took the lead. Iraqi told Al Jazeera that despite the indirect setup, he had direct contact with the U.S. delegation and that the two sides exchanged a brief conversation. But he was also clear about limits.

Iran, he said, would only reconsider direct talks if it sensed, quote, seriousness and trust from Washington. Come on. Again, that's coming from a regime that just finished slaughtering thousands of its own citizens and detaining tens of thousands of others. The Oman talks mirror early rounds of U.S. Iran negotiations before last summer's 12-day war. Talks had, of course, collapsed after Israel bombed Iranian nuclear and military sites, followed by U.S. attacks on three Iranian nuclear facilities. As for substance, Iranian state media reports at Arakchi presented a, quote, preliminary plan

aimed at managing tensions which Omani mediators passed along to the U.S. delegation. According to Aarachi, discussions focused narrowly on Iran's nuclear program. Arakshi said, quote, we are prepared to reach an agreement that assures the U.S. that enrichment in Iran will be peaceful, end quote. Oh, well, as long as they're willing to ensure that. But he also drew a hard line, making clear Iran would not accept a complete halt to uranium enrichment. As we've discussed previously, uranium enrichment remains the central sticking point in these

talks. Iran has offered monitoring and safeguards to prevent weaponization in exchange for sanctions relief. But Washington and its allies have long rejected that trade, given how international inspectors have been barred from the regime's nuclear facilities and how close enrichment can bring Iran to a nuclear weapons threshold. Just hours after the talks wrapped up, the Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports and 14 vessels carrying its crude. The message was somewhat unmistakable. Diplomacy may be open, but pressure for the mullahs to agree to a favorable U.S. deal is not easing. So the talks have reopened a diplomatic channel, haza. But with Iranian officials

rejecting Trump's optimism, sanctions increasing, and military pressure still in place, diplomacy seems, at best, unlikely to result in a successful resolution. Okay, I want to turn your attention to a deadly attack near Pakistan's capital and the response that followed. After a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque killed 31 people, setting off a rapid security sweep that led to the arrest of four suspects, including the alleged mastermind. Here's how the Pakistani authorities say this all unfolded. The arrest came just a day after a regional affiliate of the Islamic State stepped forward to claim responsibility, issuing a statement through its Amok News Agency.

According to that account, the attacker unleashed gunfire on security guards at the mosque's main gate, managing to push his way inside and then detonating an explosive vest after reaching the inner compound. total of 169 people were injured in the blast, again 31, were killed. The language used in the terror group's claim is important. The Islamic State described Pakistan's Shiite community as a, quote, human reservoir, accusing it of supplying fighters to Shiite militias battling the Islamic state in Syria.

That kind of phrasing reflects the terror group's longstanding strategy of targeting Shiite communities to inflame sectarian tensions. The scale of the attack also stands out. Friday's bombing was the deadliest assault in Islamabad since the 2008 suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel that killed 63 people, a reminder of how rare but devastating such attacks have been in the capital itself. Upon his arrest, Pakistan's interior minister said the suspected mastermind was an Afghan national link to the Islamic State. He alleged the attack was planned and the suicide bomber was trained in Afghanistan and went further, claiming the operation received financial backing, from rival India. Now, it's important to point out that the minister did not provide evidence to support those assertions, and there so far has been no response from New Delhi. As for the other suspects apprehended,

no details have been made public yet. The Interior Minister also broadened his warning, accusing multiple militant groups operating from Afghan territory of planning to stage attacks inside Pakistan. When urging the international community to take that threat seriously, he sought to push back against any criticism over security lapses, saying, quote, if one blast happens, 99 others are being foiled, end quote. That line of argument was echoed by Pakistan's defense minister, who said the attack showed that militants operating from Afghanistan were capable of striking even the capital. His remarks, however, drew a rebuke from Afghanistan's Taliban-led government. In a statement, and Afghanistan's defense ministry condemned the mosque bombing, but accused Pakistan's defense minister

of, quote, irresponsibly linking the violence to Afghan territory in order to shift the blame from his country's own security lapses. Now, Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan of harboring militants, including members of the Pakistani Taliban, separate from the Islamic State, but aligned with Afghanistan's Taliban. That's an allegation that Kabul continues to deny. But what's clear is that this attack does fit a broader pattern. Islamic State is a Sunni extremist group that's repeatedly targeted Pakistan's Shiite minority. In 2022, the group claimed responsibility for suicide bombings at a Shiite mosque in Peshawar that

killed at least 56 people. And while Islamabad has been hit less frequently than any other part of the country, Pakistan has seen a renewed surge in militant violence in recent months. As we've been following in our coverage on the PDB, much of that recent violence has been attributed to Baloch separatist groups and the Pakistani Taliban, adding another layer of instability to an already fragile security landscape. Coming up in today's back of the brief, the U.S. Navy brings science fiction a little closer to reality, using a laser weapon to take down drones at sea. Details on that when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here, with an important message from the folks that trust and will.

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A destroyer used a ship-mounted laser to shoot down multiple drones, marking a real step toward turning directed energy weapons into frontline tools. What's striking about this is how quietly it surfaced. there was no major announcement, no dramatic reveal, just a few comments, tucked into a Lockheed Martin earnings call, and some Pentagon testing documents. But adding up the available information, the picture becomes clear. This wasn't a one-off test or controlled facility experiment. It was a live-fire exercise at sea. According to reporting from the outlet, the war zone, Lockheed Martin's CEO, Jim Tyclit, confirmed that during an uncrewed aerial system demonstration at sea, the Arleigh-Birk class

destroyer USS Preble used its high-energy laser with integrated optical dazzler and surveillance, so it's got a dazzler, better known as Helios, to neutralize four incoming drones. And there's important context here. Pentagon testing officials already disclosed that Preble shot down at least one drone with the helios in 2024. That's according to a January 2025 report from the Office of the Director of Operational Testing and Evaluation. What's new is the confirmation that the system went further, engaging several targets.

in a single event. So, you ask yourself rightly, what is Helios? It's a 60-kilawatt-directed energy weapon, that's what it is, designed to destroy or disable drones and small boats. It also includes an optical dazzler, that sounds like fun, that can disrupt or damage enemy sensors. Right now, the USS Preble is the only Navy ship carrying Helios, and it's had this system on board since 2022. Other destroyers received lower-powered lasers, and additional ships have hosted experimental high-energy laser systems. But none demonstrated this level of performance at sea. That makes Preble something of a floating preview of where the fleet could be headed.

Now, the Navy is pushing hard to make directed energy weapons a frontline defense against drones and other close-range threats, and recent operations in and around the Red Sea have helped clarify why. Drones swarms, often paired with ballistic missiles, can overwhelm traditional air defenses fast. Lasers offer a different answer, a virtually unconstitutional. unlimited magazine, so as long as the ship can generate enough power and keep the system cooled, well, Helios can keep on firing. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Monday, the 9th of February.

Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And hopefully, you had a chance to check out the latest episode of our extended weekend show, The PDB Situation Report. Guests included retired Admiral Mike Studeman. He provided insight on the Trump administration. current dealings with the Iranian regime, and it was very interesting insight. We also sat down with Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Yakel, and he put a spotlight on the Chinese regime's cottage industry of organ harvesting.

You can catch it in past episodes on our YouTube channel. Just go to YouTube, of course, and search up at President's Daily Brief, or you can find it on podcast platforms all over podcast land. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB, Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com.