The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | August 1st, 2024: An Embarrassed Iran Eyes Revenge & Americans Freed From Russian Captivity

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:    As Iran gathers their network of terrorist proxies to plan their retaliation against Israel, we are beginning to learn just how the assassination of Hamas’s chief political leader was pulled off.  In a rare bit of good news, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and American veteran Paul Whelan are finally coming home as part of a massive swap of political prisoners with Russia, after suffering wrongful imprisonment by the Putin regime. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail].  Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Code: PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Begin your day with the great taste of blackout coffee. Family-owned premium coffee, fresh-roasted and shipped out within 48 hours of roasting. Go to blackout coffee.com, promo code PDB for 20% off your first-time purchase. It's Thursday, 1 August. Oh, look at that, the beginning of a brand new month. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed.

First, as Iran gathers their network. of terrorist proxies to plan their retaliation against Israel, we're beginning to learn just how the assassination of Hamas' chief political leader happened. Also, in the Good News Department, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and American veteran Paul Weillan are finally coming home as part of a large swap of political prisoners with Russia. But first, our afternoon spotlight. I want to begin with the continued fallout from the assassination of Hamas leader Ishmael Hanyi

in Tehran on Wednesday, as information. regarding just how the operation was carried out begins to emerge, and Iran reportedly sets their sights on revenge. Now, top Iranian officials are gathering their assorted heads of their terrorist proxies throughout the region for an emergency meeting in Tehran on Thursday, or what from an operational perspective could be called an opportunity, where they will reportedly plan their retaliation against Israel. While Israel does not publicly comment on covert operations against terror operatives inside Syria or Iran, several U.S. officials, anonymously confirmed on Thursday that Israel was likely behind the assassination of the terrorist kingpin, according to a report

by the New York Times. Officials for Hamas and the Islamic Shihad in Gaza, Hezbollah and Lebanon, the Houthis and Yemen, and assorted militant groups from Iraq are all expected to be in attendance for the Evil League of Evil Emergency Planning Session, and will be joined by Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanin and senior officials from the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC. Well, things that make you go, hmm, a senior Iranian official speaking anonymously to Reuters, said, quote, Iran and the resistance members will conduct a thorough assessment after the meeting at Tehran to find the best and most effective way to retaliate against the Zionist regime, end quote. Now, the gathering comes after the New York Times reported Wednesday that Ayatollah Khome

Armeni ordered Iran to strike Israel directly in retaliation during an emergency meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Any direct attack on Israel would, obviously, significantly inflame the already tense regional climate and risk triggering a wider war. As we await the Iranian response, we're learning new details regarding how the assassination was pulled off inside a supposedly secure compound in Iran's capital city. As a reminder, the multi-billionaire Hamas-liu. was in Tehran for the inauguration of new Iranian President Musul Buzeshkian, who was sworn in Tuesday to chance of death to America and death to Israel. Hanyi, who lived luxuriously from exile in Qatar, attended alongside fellow terrorist leaders

from around the region and was photographed hugging the new president. He would later return to a government guesthouse in an upscale section of Tehran that he frequently used when visiting the country. That is also where he would meet his demise. According to the New York Times, citing American and Iranian sources, an explosive device had been covertly smuggled into the Tehran guest house roughly two months ago, though how it was smuggled in remains unclear. They noted such an operation clearly took extensive planning and surveillance. You think? It was remotely detonated at roughly 2 a.m. local time Wednesday morning, after it was confirmed that Hanyi was inside. according to the anonymous officials, killing both Hanyi and his bodyguard.

Notably, the explosion appears to have done little damage beyond the room where Hanya was staying, suggesting that the intel allowed for precise targeting. The leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was staying next door, and his room reportedly suffered little damage. Officials speculated that the precision of the attack was reminiscent of a remote-controlled robot weapon that Israel used to assassinate Iran's top nuclear scientists, back in 2020. Regardless, it's an embarrassing revelation for the Iranian regime, as the guesthouse and surrounding compound is run and protected by the country's so-called elite revolutionary guard

corps and is regularly used for retreats and secret meetings and housing prominent allies and terrorist pals. The unnamed Iranian officials said have represented a catastrophic intelligence and security failure. Well, they're not wrong. Coming up after the break, following their wrongful detention by the Putin regime. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and American veteran Paul Wieland are finally coming home as part of a large multi-country swap of political prisoners with Russia. I'll be right back. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. The Biden administration, in concert with several nations, including Germany and Turkey, has successfully orchestrated a landmark prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, bringing falsely imprisoned Wall Street Journal

reporter Evan Gerskovich back onto American soil, along with former U.S. Marine Paul Weillan and Russian-American radio journalist Al-Su Kumasheva. While the details of the swap are still emerging, the full prisoner exchange reportedly involves an astonishing 26 prisoners held in seven countries, the U.S., Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, and Belarus, and is considered one of the largest between Russia and Western countries since the Cold War. On Thursday, Turkish security forces, who coordinated the transfer of prisoners, confirmed the swap to Axios. All individuals were initially flown to Ankara, Turkey, before departing for their respective countries. Gorskovich, the first American journalist to stand trial in Russia since the Cold War, was arrested back in March, 23,

while on a reporting trip to Yucatirinibur in the Ural Mountains, about 900 miles from Moscow. accused of espionage, the Biden administration quickly declared him, quote, wrongfully detained. Gerskiewicz entered the months in Moscow's notorious Lefotovo prison. His pretrial detention was repeatedly extended, leading to a conviction on July 19th, sentencing him to 16 years in a high-security penal colony for, quote, gathering secret information, or what the rest of the world would call just being a journalist. Wieland, arrested in December 2018 while attending a friend's wedding in Russia, received a 16-year sentence in 2020 on espionage charges.

Wheelan, his family, and the U.S. government have consistently claimed that charges are false. Now, Putin has essentially developed a cottage industry for what is referred to as hostage diplomacy, grabbing and imprisoning American citizens to be used as leverage and trade bait in exchange for Russians imprisoned in the U.S. or elsewhere for espionage or other crime. crimes. Also, Kermasheva, the dual American and Russian citizen, was detained in June 23 on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army. In July, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration was, quote, determined to make a deal happen for Americans in Russia. The last notable prisoner swap between

the U.S. and Russia was in December of 2022, involving basketball player Brittany Grinner, and Russian arms dealer Victor Boot. Greiner's harsh nine-year sentence for cannabis possession was widely seen as an attempt by Russia to use her as a political pawn, much like Gershkovich and Wieland. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Thursday, 1 August. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. To listen to the show ad-free,

become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB Premium.com could not be simpler. And remember, to tune into our extended weekend version of the PDB, the PDB Situation Report, with new episodes launching every Friday evening at 10 p.m. on the first TV, and of course available on all podcast platforms and our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Lots of places can expose you to identity theft.

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