The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 27th, 2023: Iran's Nuclear Ambitions & Houthis Undeterred In Red Sea

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog is sounding the alarm after discovering that Iran has accelerated their efforts over the last month to enrichment large quantities of uranium in pursuit of nuclear weapons. Houthi militants continue to escalate their attacks in the Red Sea, challenging the efforts of a multinational naval coalition aimed at safeguarding commercial traffic in the region. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.     Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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You talking to me? Kayak, got that right. It's Wednesday, December 27th. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. The UN's nuclear watchdog is sounding the alarm after discovering that Iran has accelerated their efforts over the last month to enrich large quantities of uranium in pursuit of nuclear weapons. Also, we'll discuss the latest developments in the Red Sea, where Houthi militants continue to escalate their attacks, despite the deployment of a multinational naval coalition aimed at safeguarding

commercial traffic in the region. But first, our afternoon spotlight. As the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on, inflamed by Iran's funding, training, and support of terrorists throughout the Middle East, it appears the Iranian regime is ratcheting up their efforts to produce nuclear weapons. The The International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, warned Tuesday that Iran has tripled its production of highly enriched uranium after a month's long slowdown. Specifically, they are currently enriching uranium at up to 60% purity, which puts them alarmingly close to the 90% threshold that is considered weapon grade. The UN nuclear watchdog said they began noticing increased production, Just after Thanksgiving at Iran's Fordow fuel enrichment plant, which is built into the side of a mountain,

IAEA officials then noticed increased activity at Iran's Natanz nuclear complex on November 27th. On Tuesday, after analyzing the data and confirming the enrichment levels at each plant, the IAEA notified U.N. member states of the troubling activity in Iran. Well, that notification to U.N. member states, that should take care. care of the problem. IAEA officials told Reuters, quote, the agency confirms that since the end of November 23, the rate at which Iran has been producing uranium enriched up to 60% U-235 at these two facilities combined has increased to approximately nine kilograms per month. Officials said Iran already has enough enriched uranium at 60% purity to make three nuclear bombs if the regime

further enriches those supplies to the 90% threshold. An unidentified State Department spokesperson addressed Iran's concerning nuclear progress on Tuesday, saying the Biden administration is, quote, greatly concerned. Oh, by the IAEA report, and that Iran has, quote, no credible civilian justification for enrichment up to 60%. The official added, quote, Iran's nuclear escalation is all the more concerning at a time when Iran as well as Iran-backed militant groups and Iran's proxies, continue their dangerous and destabilizing activities in the region, end quote.

Now, as an aside, despite what you may have heard or read, I am not a nuclear scientist. In fact, sometimes I have a hard time pronouncing the word nuclear. You may have noticed that. But perhaps a bit of information here would be useful, or at least would make for good conversation starters at your New Year's Eve party. Highly enriched uranium is anything enriched above 20% and weapon-grade uranium is considered generally

to have been enriched above 90% U-235. Now, most nuclear reactors that produce electricity only require uranium that is enriched to between 3% and 5%. Iran has stated in the past that their efforts to enrich uranium are for civilian purposes, including medical research. And it is true that some research reactors around the world use 90% enriched U-235 to produce medical isotopes. But the Iranian regime has been caught lying so often in the past regarding their program and have provided so little actual transparency to the IAEA and outside monitors,

not to mention, or did I, that they're the largest state sponsor of global terrorism, that only a complete rube would take the Iranian regime's word, regarding the peaceful nature of their nuclear program. And one very specific reason why the intelligence about Iran's program speeding up their production of 60% enriched uranium is so concerning is that it means essentially they've done the heavy lifting already to get to weapon-grade material. In simple terms, enriching uranium just to 20% represents about 90% of the work needed to produce weapon-grade material. So the fact that Iran has sufficient material at 60% to produce an estimated three nukes already

and is speeding up further production means the breakout window for the Iranian regime to announce to the world that they have nuclear weapons is rapidly closing. And if you think reasoning with or dealing with the regime in the IRGC is difficult now, imagine the instability and chaos they can cause with a nuclear arsenal. Yeah, not exactly a half. Happy New Year's message. Now, the Iranian regime did reportedly begin a month-long slowdown of their enrichment process in June of this year, leading some Western officials to believe that their program was part of secret talks with the United States that later led to the release

of U.S. citizens being held by Iran. Unfortunately, it appears that those hopes were misplaced. The revelation comes at an increasingly tense moment in the Middle East. Iranian-backed Houthi militants have escalated attacks in the Red Sea, wrecking havoc on international commerce, and Israel has reaffirmed their commitment to the total to destruction of the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza. On Monday, after a senior advisor to the IRGC was killed in an alleged Israeli air strike in Syria, officials in Iran issued their most direct threat against Israel since the war broke out, promising that Israel will, quote, pay for this crime. Now, oddly, the IRGC senior advisor failed to reference the Iranian regime's support of terrorism in the Middle East and

globally, their ongoing efforts to destabilize the region, their crazed a desire to destroy Israel, or the regime's ongoing suppression of human rights and civil liberties within their own country. Perhaps he'll get around to those action items later. All right, coming up after the break, Iranian backed Houthi militants, continue to escalate their attacks in the Red Sea, challenging the efforts of a multinational Naval Coalition aimed at safeguarding commercial traffic in the region. I'll be right back. Ryan Reynolds here from MintMobil, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much.

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Last week, we reported on the announcement of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational naval coalition to help safeguard commercial traffic from attacks by Yemen's Houthi militants. The coalition includes the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, the U.S. and Spain, alongside several nations that are choosing to remain anonymous. Well, it appears that, at least in the short term, the Houthis have no intention of stopping their attacks, and recent events suggest that the Iran-backed group actually is escalating their offensive, challenging the coalition's efforts. Yesterday, U.S. Central Command announced that U.S. naval forces successfully intercepted and destroyed 12 attack drones and five minutes.

missiles. The attacks were thwarted by the USS Laboon and Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer and F-18 fighter jets from the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group. Over a span of 10 hours, they downed 12 one-way attack drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land-attack cruise missiles launched by the Houthis. According to Sentcom, there were no reports of casualties or damage in the area. Expanding their range of targets, the Houthis have now resumed. The Houthis have now resumed launching UAVs and missiles at targets in Israel as well. A recent attack targeted the Israeli port city of Eilat. The Israeli Air Force responded promptly, reportedly downing a hostile aerial target over the Red Sea, believed to be one of the drones heading towards Israel. In an evening

press conference, an IDF spokesman condemned these strikes as acts of terror carried out under Iranian directives. The Houthis campaign has been extensive and relentless, to date, They've launched over 100 drone and missile attacks, targeting 10 commercial shipping vessels connected to a variety of countries. As we've been reporting, these attacks have had a significant impact on international commerce, prompting several of the world's largest companies to suspend their operations in the Red Sea. However, with the start of the multinational naval coalition, there are signs that, despite the ongoing threat, the coalition is beginning to have a positive effect. effect. Marisk, the Denmark-based shipping giant, has announced plans to resume its shipments

through the Red Sea. This decision comes after a temporary halt earlier this month. Marisk executives have indicated that the return to the Red Sea will be gradual, though, with no large-scale return of ships expected in the waterway before the new year. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 27 December. If you have any questions or comments, please, reach out to me at PDB at thefirstTV.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.