August 21st, 2026: Iran’s Regime Is Preparing to Crush Another Uprising & Russia’s Deadly Kyiv Barrage
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I'm Megan Kelly. Every day on the Megan Kelly Show, we bring you the news, and this summer we're bringing you something extra. Before I was a journalist, I was a lawyer. I've spent 20 plus years now covering crime and the law. So I built a true crime series that I always wanted to listen to. We're calling it MK Confidential. And there we cover cases that you've heard about, like John Bene Ramsey, Chandra Levy, the DC Snipers, Scott P. Peterson, and some that you haven't. One case per week, five episodes, Monday through Friday. New episodes every weeknight, search for the Megan Kelly Show wherever you listen to podcasts and you will find MK Confidential.
It's Friday, the twenty-first of August. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And look at us, we made it to the end of another work week. Congratulations, everyone. You can take the weekend off. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Iran's regime fears another popular uprising, and the return of a man known as the suppression sheikh reveals how Techran intends. To stop it. Later in the show, Russia pounds Kiev with drones and cruise missiles, leaving at least 16 dead as Ukraine's air defense shortage grows increasingly deadly. Plus, Romanian F-16s destroy an explosive Russian sea drone after it reaches one of Europe's most important new gas projects.
And in today's back of the brief, prediction market bets may be revealing American military operations. before the first missile is even fired. Oh good. But first, today's PDB spotlight. We've been tracking growing evidence that Iran's leaders consider another popular uprising one of the greatest threats to their survival. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that officials in Tehran fear President Trump's economic campaign could deepen the country's misery, reignite nationwide protests, and further erode the regime's legitimacy. Now, does it have I'm sorry, does it have legitimacy? That's another question. Now, new reporting is added. Adding to that picture and revealing what Iran's leaders intend to do about it.
The regime's leadership, that is, whomever is in charge, has returned one of the regime's most notorious intelligence officials to take charge of the besieged militia. That's the sprawling paramilitary force used to monitor and suppress Iran's population. His name is Hossein Taeb, and his critics have given him an appropriate nickname, the suppression ship. Tab is a hardline cleric who joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the early years of the Islamic Republic. He spent decades moving through Iran's intelligence establishment, building a reputation for fierce loyalty to the Khamani family and ruthless treatment of anyone considered a threat to the regime. He also developed a close relationship with Mushtaba Khamani long before Mustabah succeeded his father as supreme leader.
Although of course it's unknown if Mushtaba is alive, maybe in Iran physically or not, or responsible at this stage really for making any decisions. According to the telegraph, the two men worked together to investigate political opponents, manufacture damaging dossiers, and undermine Iran's so called reformist movement. Taeb eventually returned to the Revolutionary Guard and in 2008 was placed in command of the Basij militia. Iran's leadership was increasingly worried about the possibility of a so called color revolution, one of the popular uprisings that had already toppled governments elsewhere. Those fears, well, they appeared justified one year later. In 2009, Iran's disputed presidential election produced the
Green movement, bringing enormous crowds into the streets to challenge the government. Taeb's Basie militia played a central role in the crackdown that followed. But he didn't simply deploy men with clubs to clear demonstrations. Taeb reportedly transformed the militia from a force primarily associated with street violence into a much more sophisticated instrument of domestic surveillance and counterintelligence.
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