The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | July 7th, 2025: 'Operation Red Wedding': How Israel Wiped Out Iran’s Military Leadership & BRICS Leaders Lash Out Over Trump's Tariffs

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:  First—we’ll look at how the infamous "Red Wedding" in the HBO series Game of Thrones inspired the Israeli operation that wiped out Iran’s top military leadership. Later in the show—President Donald Trump threatens an extra 10 percent tariff against any countries aligning with what he calls "anti-American" BRICS policies, as the economic bloc denounces America’s unilateral trade measures. 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 President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Lean: Visit https://TakeLean.com & use code pb20 for 20% off Kikoff: Build credit fast and get your first month for just a dollar at https://GetKikoff.com/miketoday. Thanks to Kikoff for sponsoring us! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, we'll look at how the infamous Red Wedding from the HBO series Game of Thrones inspired the Israeli operation that decimated Iran's top military leadership at the beginning of their 12-day war against the Islamic regime. And later in the show, President Trump threatens an extra 10% tariff against any countries aligning with what he calls, quote, American BRICS policies, as the economic bloc denounces America's unilateral trade measures.

We'll have those details. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We're learning new details about the opening moments of Israel's campaign against Iran and the fictional inspiration behind the clinical strike that took out the Islamic regime's top military brass. According to Israeli and U.S. security officials that spoke with the Wall Street Journal, a brutal moment from the HBO show Game of Thrones gave the IDF and Mossad a risky but daring idea. What if they could lure all of Iran's most senior military commanders to a single location, decapitating the head of the snake, so to speak, before the Iranian regime ever had a chance to react?

Well, the resulting plan that formed was reportedly dubbed Red Wedding after the scene in Game of Thrones were a number of main characters are lured to a celebration only to be betrayed and killed by the bride's family. While all the details of how the Israeli military pulled off the operation are still unclear, IDF sources, say Mossad agents, who had long since infiltrated Iran's communications networks initiated a targeted disinformation effort days before the 13th of June strike. Then, in the hours leading up to the initial strike, the Israelis used a fake phone call to trick the top commanders of Iran's Air Force and other military branches into gathering at a single bunker location under the guise of an emergency meeting. The Russe worked, and Israeli fighter jets

descended on Iranian airspace and delivered a precision missile strike on the bunker. The surprise attack resulted in the deaths of a number of top Iranian military leaders, including Muhammad Baghehrie, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, Hussein Salami, the commander of the Iranian and Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, GOLM Ali Rashid, head of Iran's emergency command, and most of the IRGC's senior Air Force officials. That opening salvo, part of Israel's broader Operation Rising Lion, threw Iran's military hierarchy into complete disarray

and effectively neutralized Iran's ability to mount an immediate retaliation, as there was no one in senior positions left to give the command to strike back. This bought time for Israel to carry out their wider campaign, which involved fighter jets and drones hitting the regime's missile sites, launchers, radar installations, nuclear facilities, and other critical military infrastructure. The Red Wedding Gambit ultimately paid off as the resulting damage significantly diminished around subsequent missile and drone response against Israel.

But Game of Thrones wasn't reportedly the only piece of fiction that the Israeli military drew inspiration from, At the same time that their jets targeted Iran's senior military commanders, the IDF also initiated what they referred to as Operation Narnia, named after the fictional CS-Lewis series. That operation saw Israeli missiles and drones kill nine top Iranian nuclear scientists almost simultaneously at their homes in Tehran. The mission got its name because its planners considered the operation almost too fantastical to succeed. The head of the Israeli military operations directorate admitted to the Wall Street Journal,

quote, when we started to plan this thing in detail, it was very difficult to know that this would work, end quote. Now, while everything went essentially as planned, the cost of potential failure was high. If Israel was unable to hit all the targets at once, or if the military leadership and nuclear scientists were scattered ahead of the attack, Iran's retaliation would have been far swifter and more severe, and their nuclear brain trust would have been left intact. Up next, the tariff war heats back up, as President Trump threatens an extra 10% trade tax against any countries aligning with the BRICS economic block. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let's take just a brief moment to talk about weight loss, right? I mean, after all, it is swimsuit season. Now, have you heard of Karoluma?

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dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. Welcome back to. the afternoon bulletin. President Trump's reciprocal tariffs are set to snap back into effect on the 1st of August, and he's threatening to now go further, vowing to slap an additional 10% on any country aligned with BRICS. Now, with that deadline looming, the block has issued a veiled rebuke.

In a declaration issued during their two-day meeting in Rio de Janeiro, BRICS leaders expressed, quote, serious concerns over the rise of unilateral trade measures without mentioning the U.S. by name. The statement warned such policies could, quote, disrupt global supply chains and inject chaos into already fragile markets. The document reaffirmed the bloc's allegiance to a so-called, quote, rules-based, open, fair, inclusive, equitable, and non-discriminatory trading system, whatever that means.

It's like they took all the words and jammed them into one sentence. Diplomatic phrasing aside, the statement, lands as a slap just days before President Trump's 90-day tariff pause is set to expire. As we've reported here on the PDB, the 2nd of April moratorium gave foreign governments three months to hammer out trade deals with the U.S. before a wave of reciprocal tariffs would snap back into place. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson confirmed today that formal letters will begin going out this week to trading partners, warning that those suspended duties will, quote, boomerang back into force on the first of the first of the first of the United States.

of August if deals are not struck. In an interview with CNBC, Besson was blunt, stating, quote, we've had a lot of people change their tune, my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals, end quote. Trump responded to the BRICS declaration with a new threat, warning of an additional 10% duty on any country, he says is, quote, aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICs. He posted on Truth Social, quote, there will be no exceptions to this policy. The BRICS grouping, which began as Brazil, Russia, China, India, and South Africa, has since morphed last year to include Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the UAE. That expansion now represents a sizable counterweight to U.S. institutions.

In response to Trump's threat, China pushed back, insisting it's not gunning for a renewed trade war. At a press briefing in Beijing, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry insisted that Bricks is, quote, an important platform for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries, adding that it is, quote, not a block for confrontation, nor does it target any country, end quote. But Washington is not buying the benign branding. Actually, benign branding is the signature move of the Chinese Communist Party. The Trump administration argues its tariff strategies are essential for restoring balance and trade relationships that have long favored foreign producers at the expense of U.S. industry. But trade wasn't the only issue that Bricks took aim at.

The group also blasted NATO's new plan to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP by the year 2035. That's an initiative widely seen as a response to Trump's ongoing push for European nations to pay more toward their own security. Meanwhile, Trump floated even steeper penalties, slapping tariffs as high as 100% on Bricks countries if they take coordinated steps to undermine the dollar. If it acted, that measure would almost certainly spark fierce outrage and possible retaliation. That said, not everything points toward escalation. The recent trade deal between the U.S. and China ease tensions on a separate front, with Washington relaxing export restrictions and Beijing ramping up shipments of rare earth materials. At the end of the day,

Beijing will do what they view as being in Beijing's best interests. That concern will always supersede what is in the BRICS Nation's collective interest. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday, the 7th of July. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. And as the old saying goes, to listen to the show ad-free, just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed.

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