The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 14th, 2025: China, Russia Back Iran In Nuclear Standoff With Trump & Israel Condemns Hamas For Using Hostages For "Psychological Warfare"

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, China and Russia are coming to the aid of Iran, at least diplomatically, condemning the Trump administration’s attempts to pressure the Islamic regime into engaging in nuclear negotiations, and calling for an immediate lifting of what they called "illegal unilateral sanctions." Later in the show, negotiations to extend the ceasefire in Gaza hit another snag on Friday, as Hamas said they would release an American-Israeli hostage, but only if Israel agreed to a laundry list of demands. Israel responded by slamming Hamas for the conditional offer, calling it a "manipulation" and act of "psychological warfare." 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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All right, let's get briefed. First up, China and Russia are attempting to position themselves as mediators in Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, uniting on Friday to back the Islamic regime in the face of aggressive U.S. sanctions targeting Tehran's shadowy oil trade. Later in the show, negotiations to extend the ceasefire in Gaza hit another snag on Friday. as Hamas said they would release an American-Israeli hostage, but only if Israel agreed to work towards a permanent end to the war. Israel responded by slamming Hamas for the conditional offer, calling it a, quote, manipulation and an act of psychological warfare. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. China and Russia are coming to the aid of Iran, condemning the Trump administration's

attempts to pressure the Islamic regime into engaging in nuclear negotiations and calling for an immediate lifting of what they called, quote, illegal unilateral sanctions. The trio of American adversaries convened on Friday in Beijing for high-level talks. Well, that's quite the cabal. One wonders if they met in a secret evil lair located underneath a dormant volcano. But I digress. They met to address the issue of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and the escalating Western response. After the talks, which involved China's executive vice foreign minister and the deputy foreign ministers of Russia and Iran, the group issued a joint statement, agreeing that the U.S. should abandon their financial pressure campaign and all, quote, threats of force against the Islamic regime, and that's according to a report from the New York Times.

Instead, they called for, quote, political and diplomatic engagement and dialogue based on the principle of mutual respect, saying it was the only viable pathway to achieving a resolution to the nuclear issue. I wonder if that would be the same level of respect that perhaps Russia is according to Ukraine. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being churlish. Their remarks were a not so thinly veiled rebuke of President Trump's campaign to restart direct negotiations with Iran over their nuclear weapons program. Last week, Trump said he sent a personal letter directly to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali-Kamini offering him a choice between engaging in good faith negotiations for a new nuclear deal or facing

the wrath of the American military. While Trump said he would prefer to strike a deal, he may be left with no other option than to handle the situation militarily, threatening, quote, terrible consequences for the regime should they refuse to back down. The comments did not go over particularly well with the Iranian regime. The Ayatollah said the regime would not be bullied into negotiations, and that's a sentiment echoed by Iranian President Masoud Buzeshkian, who bluntly told Trump on Tuesday to, quote, do whatever the hell you want, end quote. As a reminder, the Iranian regime has vastly increased their stockpile of highly enriched uranium over the past month and now has enough material, reportedly, to produce at least six nuclear weapons. Trump responded by returning to his maximum pressure

strategy against Iran earlier this month, reimposing aggressive sanctions on the regime's oil trade with the stated goal of reducing Iran's oil exports to zero, which of course would be an issue for China, the primary buyer of Iran's oil. Ooh, maybe these things are all connected. What do you think? Friday's meeting appeared to be an attempt by China and Russia to position themselves as an alternative to U.S. global leadership, and rather ironically, as responsible global actors who can mediate major international challenges like nuclear proliferation. In their joint statement, Russia and Iran even praised China's leadership on the issue. But neither China or Russia offered a plan to rein in Iran's enrichment of near-weapons-grade uranium or address the regime's recent installation

of more advanced centrifuges at their nuclear sites, which, of course, are accelerating their ability to stockpile nuclear material. Despite their attempts to paint themselves as an unbiased, mediator, the Chinese in particular, have a strong incentive to see U.S. sanctions shelved. Last year, Chinese companies purchased more than 90% of Iran's oil exports, almost always at a steep discount, of course, when compared to global prices. The arrangement also gives China considerable leverage over the Iranian regime, as their purchases have almost single-handedly propped up the regime's last meaningful source of international revenue. It's hard to overstate. It's hard to overstate, the importance of the relationship, as Iran's oil sales to China represent about 6% of Iran's

entire economy, or roughly half of their annual government spending. For now, China, Iran, and Russia appear unified in their opposition to Trump's international agenda. The three powers also held joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman just a few days before the meeting in Beijing. But internally, Iran still has some leagering concerns. A senior analyst, a senior analyst. Analyst of the Eurasia group told New York Times, quote, the Iranians, for their part, are very wary of Chinese, but especially of Russian involvement in negotiations, as they fear they'll be sold out by Moscow as part of a broader U.S. Russia Accord,

end quote. Coming up next, negotiations to extend the ceasefire in Gaza hit another snag on Friday, with Israel accusing Hamas of engaging in psychological warfare. I'll have those details when we come back. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usaa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply.

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Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. In what initially appeared to be a breakthrough on stalled ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, the terror group said Friday that they are willing to release New Jersey native Eden Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American hostage who had served in the Israeli army, along with the remains of four other American-Israeli hostages. But two Hamas sources later told Reuters that the offer is conditional on Israel agreeing to implement the second phase of a ceasefire deal, open up border crossings, lift a blockade on humanitarian aid, and engage in talks to permanently end the war in Gaza.

Essentially, the terror group is attempting to avoid making concessions and bypass further negotiations by using the release of Alexander to force Israel into agreeing to. to their full slate of demands. As we discussed earlier on the PDB, negotiations to extend the Israel-Hamas ceasefire have been deadlocked, but U.S. Middle East envoy, Steve Whitkoff, made a last-ditch effort to try and revive the talks on Thursday. He submitted a proposal to mediators in Qatar. They called for Hamas to release at least five live hostages and the remains of nine deceased captives in exchange for a ceasefire extension and the resumption of humanitarian aid. While Israeli officials quickly agreed to the Whitkoff framework, Hamas has refused to agree.

On Friday, Whitkoff said the terror group was being, quote, impractical, with their counteroffer to release just one living hostage and reiterated President Trump's warning that Hamas will, quote, pay a severe price if they don't imminently resume hostage releases. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was even more forceful in his response, accusing the Iranian-backed terror group of engaging in, quote, manipulation and psychological warfare to try and get their way and force Israel into making steep concessions. Netanyahu said Friday, quote, while Israel has accepted the Whitkoff proposal, Hamas stands by its refusal and has not budged a millimeter, end quote.

Earlier on Friday, Netanyahu said their negotiating team would be leaving Doha and returning to Israel due to the impasse. Still, Netanyahu said he would be convening his cabinet on Saturday night to discuss the hostage situation and determine potential next steps. Hamas, for their part, said they're sending another delegation to Cairo on Friday for further discussions with Egyptian mediators. Now, as we discussed earlier, the first phase of the fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas technically expired in late March.

While some limited fighting has occurred in the enclave, the situation has not yet descended back into a full-scale war, but concerns are mounting. over just how much longer mediators can delay further bloodshed. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday the 14th of March. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And remember, mark your calendars and set your watches. The latest episode of the PDB Situation Report, our extended weekend show, launches this evening at 10 p.m. on the first TV.

This weekend's excellent guests include David Dowd from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, as well as former senior CIA analyst and national security official Fred Flights. Given the state of the world currently, well, as you can imagine, there's a lot to discuss. This weekend's episode, along with past episodes of the Situation Report, can also be found on our YouTube channel, and you can find our YouTube channel by going to at President's Daily Brief, as well as all the usual podcast platforms. I hope you'll tune in. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB Situation Report.

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