The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | January 15th, 2026: Iran Protest Momentum Slows & U.S. Cartel Pressure

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: New reporting suggests Iran’s nationwide protest movement may be losing momentum, following a brutal regime crackdown and a sweeping information blackout that is making it increasingly difficult to assess conditions on the ground. The United States escalates pressure on Mexico to allow U.S. forces to target fentanyl labs, as Washington weighs direct military action against drug cartels in an effort to stem the flow of narcotics into the United States. 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 Stash Financial: Don't Let your money sit around. Go to https://get.stash.com/PDB to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase. Mars Men: Boost energy and strength naturally with Mars Men—get 50% off for life + 3 free gifts at https://MenGoToMars.com. DeleteMe: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://joindeleteme.com/PDB and use promocode PDB at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It's Thursday, the 15th of January. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, new reporting suggests Iran's nationwide protest movement may possibly be losing momentum after a brutal regime crackdown and an information blackout that's obscuring, of course, what's actually happening on the ground. Later in the show, the U.S. escalates pressure on Mexico. to allow U.S. forces to target fentanyl labs, as Washington weighs direct military action against cartels. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. As with everything in Iran right now, the information blackout imposed by Tehran continues to make the situation on the ground difficult

to assess, but there's some indication that the regime's repression and violent crackdown may be having its intended effect, and that the immediate threat to the Mullahs may be receding. at least for now. According to reporting from Reuters, people inside Iran, who were reached on Wednesday and Thursday, say that demonstrations appear to have abated since Monday. Streets that were once filled with crowds are now quieter. Gunfire has diminished. Visible signs of mass protest have become harder to find. That doesn't mean that anger has dissipated or disappeared. It just means the cost of expressing it has become too high. The Seperan lull follows days of brutal repression, of course, much of which we detailed earlier today.

Live fire, maimings, mass arrests, beatings, and a near total internet blackout designed to sever coordination and hide the scale of the violence by the regime. And as the protests appear to recede, the regime itself has begun shifting its message and softening its tone a bit. Oh, look at them. It's a kinder, gentler mullahs in IRGC. Just days ago, international outrage spiked over reports that a 26-year-old protester, Ephron Sultani was scheduled to be executed. Rights groups warned that is hanging could mark the

start of mass executions aimed at crushing the movement entirely. But now Iranian officials are walking that back, supposedly. State media claims that Sultani's execution has been called off. Iran's foreign minister has publicly insisted that there are no plans to hang protesters today or tomorrow. Oh, look. Hey, we don't have any plans to hang protesters today or tomorrow. Tehran says it's fully in control. The regime appears to be adjusting its tactics in an effort to project calm authority after days of international scrutiny, and of course an effort to say nothing to see here after killing thousands of protesters, and of course an effort to go back to business as usual. That shift in Tehran coincides with a noticeable change in tone from Washington. President Trump, who had previously warned that executions of protesters could trigger serious consequences, has suggested that he's been told that killing may be easing, Oh, he's also indicated that there's no current plan for large-scale executions.

That is a noticeable shift from telling the protesters on the streets that help is on its way. Earlier statements from the White House drew a bright red line, of course. The killing of protesters by the regime would not be tolerated, was said. Now, as Iran signals restraint, the sense of immediate escalation appears to be cooling. Because, after all, why not believe whatever the mullahs and the Revolutionary Guard course say. As if all of that wasn't indication enough, the security warning level at the U.S. Alludeid Air Base in Qatar has been lowered after a heightened alert was triggered on Wednesday. That suggests that the chances of a strike against Iran are easing. Having said that, the U.S.

is moving a carrier group out to the Middle East. Just saying. Now, this doesn't mean the crisis is over, of course. It means both sides may be recalibrating, or one side, meaning the U.S., may simply be doing a head fake. But here's the part that can't be lost in the fog of diplomacy and messaging. While Tehran is now claiming it won't execute protesters, something that President Trump seems ready to possibly take at face value. That's speculation. It's already executed thousands of them in the streets. That's not speculation. The absence of gallows in a public spectacle does not actually equal restraint. The regime doesn't need to show trials anymore if fear has already done the job. Live ammunition, mass arrests, bodies on the streets, and disappearing citizens can be

just as effective, often more so, than public hangings. And the internet blackout ensures that whatever is still happening remains largely unseen. So when officials say the protests have, quote, abated, it's worth asking what that really means. Public resistance didn't collapse because the people no longer want change. It's more likely that the consequences are becoming unbearable. The regime didn't regain any legitimacy with its violent response to the protests. It simply regained control. History suggests the repression can't quiet streets without extinguishing resentment. Movements don't always disappear.

Sometimes they go underground, and sometimes they wait. Although the cycle of protests, followed by brutal repressions of those protests, has a depressing and exhausting history under the Mullas and the IRC. For now, the Mullas are claiming stability is returning to, to the streets, and Washington appears to be pausing. It's Groundhog Day for the opposition to the regime. All right, coming up next, the U.S. pushes Mexico to allow American military operations against drug cartels, raising the stakes in the fight against fentanyl. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take just a moment to talk about personal goals, financial goals specifically.

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operations against cartel-run labs inside the country. Now, this proposal isn't new. It first surfaced early last year and then quietly faded as Mexico pushed back. But after the U.S. operation, they captured Venezuelan strongman Nicholas Maduro, the thinking inside the White House appears to have shifted. Officials now see that operation in Venezuela as proof of concept, and that confidence seems to be shaping how President Trump may approach Mexico. Here's what Washington is reportedly asking for. Under the proposal now on the table, U.S. Special Operations Forces or CIA personnel would accompany Mexican troops during raids on suspected fentanyl labs. Mexican forces would remain in command, but American personnel would be present on the ground, providing intelligence, planning

support and real-time tactical advice. So a level of involvement that Mexico has long resisted. Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum has acknowledged that tension. After a recent phone call with Trump, she said the U.S. president, quote, generally insists on the participation of U.S. forces, while making clear that her government does not see such involvement as necessary. She described Trump as, quote, receptive and said the two sides agreed to keep working together, diplomatic language that on its face sounds cooperative, but also underscores just how far apart they remain. That gap is widening as Trump signals impatience with the pace of Mexico's cartel crackdown. In an interview with Fox News, he made clear that Washington sees this as the next phase of a

broader campaign. Trump said, quote, we've knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water. We're going to start now hitting land. Mexican officials trying to avoid escalation with Washington have floated counter-proposals. Instead of joining raids, they suggested deeper intelligence sharing and a larger U.S. role inside Mexican military command centers. U.S. advisors are already embedded in Mexican command posts supplying intelligence that Mexican forces use to plan and execute anti-drug operations. The dispute now is over how direct that American role becomes. And this is where pressure starts to build. Some U.S. officials argue that Mexico's leverage is narrowing, as Washington weighs more aggressive options. One of those options, discussed openly inside the

administration, is the use of drone strikes against suspected fentanyl labs. According to Scheinbaum, that would violate Mexican sovereignty, but the mere fact that's being discussed does add urgency to the talks. Now, as an aside, operationally, fentanyl labs are notoriously difficult to find. They emit very few chemical emissions and are often hidden in dense urban areas, pushing U.S. efforts toward tracking precursor chemicals instead. A covert drone program that began under the Biden administration has rapidly expanded since Trump returned to office, tracing those supply chains and feeding intelligence to Mexican units that carry out the raids. Under the new proposal, U.S. personnel would no longer stop at that handoff. As we've long discussed on the podcast,

fentanyl remains the leading cause of overdose deaths in the U.S., and most drugs continue to enter through the 2000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Just last year, the White House designated fentanyl a, quote, weapon of mass destruction and labeled several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. So that leaves Scheinbaum, navigating a somewhat narrow path, either accept U.S. demands for joint operations and risk political and domestic backlash, or reject them outright, and risk being sidelined if Washington acts unilaterally. And that, my friends, is the people.

Afternoon afternoon bulletin for Thursday the 15th of January. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show ad-free, well, you can do that.

It's very simple. All you have to do is become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. See, I told you it was simple. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow.

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