Mike Baker

It's Monday, the 19th 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, a stunning breach of Iran's propaganda machine.

Iranian state TV is hacked to broadcast the exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, along with images that the regime has tried desperately to erase.

I'll have those details.

Later in the show, CIA Director John Ratcliffe flies to Venezuela to meet newly named President Delcy Rodriguez in the highest-level US engagement since Maduro's capture.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

For years, the Iranian regime has relied on one tool above almost all others to maintain control – total dominance of information.

State television is not just media in Iran, of course.

It's an integral part of the regime's ability to control the population, a carefully managed pipeline of propaganda meant to project strength and unity and inevitability.

But that pipeline sprung a leak over the weekend.

Multiple Iranian state television channels were abruptly hijacked in a coordinated cyber attack, interrupting regular programming to broadcast footage of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last Shah, along with images of anti-government protests that the regime has been working relentlessly to suppress.

This breach came amid a near-total internet shutdown inside Iran, which remains in place after weeks of nationwide protests challenging the authority of the mullahs and the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

With social media blocked, messaging apps crippled, and outside communication severely restricted, the regime believed it had sealed the information battlefield.

The cyber attack proved otherwise.

According to reporting, hackers targeted the satellite transmission feeds used to distribute state television across the country.

For viewers inside Iran and for the regime officials monitoring their own channels, the interruption was shocking.

State media, normally locked down tight, was suddenly broadcasting the face of the exiled monarchy and scenes of unrest that the regime was insisting either don't exist or are being orchestrated by foreign enemies.