The President's Daily Brief
February 10th, 2026: Second Wave Of Protests Builds In Iran & Israel Signals Unilateral Action
10 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's Tuesday, the 10th of February. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, public anger is once again flaring up across Iran. And this time, the anger isn't just on the streets, but inside the regime itself. I'll have the details.
Later in the show, as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu prepares to meet with President Trump, new reports suggest Israel has warned Washington it may act alone if Iran crosses a ballistic missile red line. Plus, Russia's foreign minister is accusing the White House of backing out of alleged agreements tied to Ukraine, accusing Trump of, quote, Bidenism.
Now, I don't know this for sure, but I suspect that President Trump won't find it charming that Putin and his minions are comparing him to former President Biden. That's just a guess. And in today's Back of the Brief, a chilling reminder of China's grip on Hong Kong, as media tycoon and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai receives a 20-year prison sentence. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
A second wave of public unrest appears to be building inside Iran, and this one looks different from what we saw just weeks ago. According to new reporting from The Wall Street Journal, Iran is now seeing a broader, more deeply rooted surge of anger following last month's mass killings of protesters.
What began as street demonstrations has evolved into something far more persistent and far more dangerous for the regime. A society wide rejection that's showing up in schools, hospitals, universities, unions and even at funerals. Mourning families are chanting anti-regime slogans over the graves of those killed by security forces.
University students are holding memorials for classmates who died during the crackdown and refusing to stay silent. Medical students are staging sit-ins to protest the arrest of doctors who treated injured demonstrators. Teachers unions are issuing public statements condemning the violence.
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Chapter 2: What is the current state of public anger in Iran?
High school students are quietly refusing to sing the national anthem. It has the appearance of what could become sustained defiance. And importantly, the rhetoric has changed. Iranians are no longer calling for reform or accountability. They're openly calling for the fall of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Massavi, long under house arrest and once considered a reformist, has now said the Islamic Republic is beyond reform and must be replaced altogether. Mousavi said, quote, when you were wearing the uniform of war against your own people, you were striking your own roots with an axe, end quote.
Civil society activists have published open letters blaming Khamenei personally for what they describe as crimes against humanity. A well-known Iranian actress has announced she'll no longer perform, saying she refuses to work in a country that, quote, smells of blood. Now, as you can imagine, the regime's response to the ongoing unrest has been brutal and expansive.
Security forces are carrying out waves of arrests, not just at protests, but afterward, detaining people in their homes, at memorial services, and even inside hospitals. Armed men in plain clothes have reportedly raided medical centers, dragging away injured protesters seeking treatment.
Chapter 3: How is Israel preparing for potential unilateral action against Iran?
Doctors and nurses accused of helping demonstrators have been beaten and detained. Teachers have warned students to stay home if they show visible injuries and to wipe their phones of anything political before inspections.
Independent rights groups estimate that roughly 7,000 people have been killed since demonstrations began in late December, with more than 50,000, that's five zero, 50,000 arrested. Iranian authorities say the numbers are far lower. Oh, labeling the dead as rioters or terrorists. Well, I'm sure the Iranian regime wouldn't lie about something like that.
One woman interviewed by the Journal summed it up by saying that people are terrified but also filled with hatred. She said many Iranians are willing to die themselves if it means their children won't have to live under the same system. So that's the mood on the street. What about the mood in the halls of power?
Well, that brings us to something new, evidence that those in charge may believe this wave of public anger is far from over. That evidence comes from Treasury Secretary Scott Besant. Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Besant described what he says is a growing sense of panic among Iran's leadership, driven by economic collapse and sustained U.S.
Chapter 4: What accusations is Russia making against the U.S. regarding Ukraine?
sanctions. According to Besant, the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign has created a severe dollar shortage inside Iran, putting enormous strain on the financial system.
But even more importantly, Besant told senators that Iranian leaders are currently wiring money out of the country, quote, like crazy, adding, quote, rats are leaving the ship and arguing that capital flight on that scale suggests that those at the top believe the regime itself may be in danger.
If Pessin's account is accurate, it doesn't mean that the Islamic Republic is about to collapse tomorrow. As we've repeatedly seen, authoritarian systems can absorb enormous pressure before they finally break. But it is a strong indication that those in power still believe the threat to their grip on power is very real.
When unrest spreads beyond the streets and into the fabric of everyday life, schools, hospitals, unions, and when the people running the system start moving their money offshore, well, it tells you something important. Members of the government, with the wherewithal, may be looking for the exit door.
Coming up next, Israel warns that it may act unilaterally if Iran crosses a ballistic missile red line. And Moscow accuses President Trump of backing away from alleged Ukraine agreements. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, whether you're in a one- or two-income household, if you're a breadwinner, well, you know this. You're carrying a lot of responsibility.
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Chapter 5: What does Jimmy Lai's sentencing reveal about Hong Kong's political climate?
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Welcome back to the PDB. As US-Iran talks stall and Tehran escalates threats against American military targets in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu heads to Washington Wednesday to meet with President Trump as Israel pushes for a tougher approach to the Iranian regime.
Chapter 6: How is the Iranian regime responding to the recent wave of protests?
What Israel is signaling ahead of this meeting is fairly direct. Netanyahu's team is making it clear that they don't see the current American negotiation strategy with Iran as anywhere close to sufficient. From Jerusalem's perspective, and it's one the Trump administration has consistently shared, a deal that focuses only on uranium levels leaves the real threat intact.
Iran's missile program keeps advancing, its proxy networks keep operating, and none of that is addressed if negotiations remain confined to the nuclear negotiations. Thus far, Tehran has only been willing to engage on its nuclear program, drawing a hard line against any discussion of missiles or regional activity. Now, it's just speculation, but there may be a couple of key factors at play here.
One, the Iranian regime may be feeling like it can drive this negotiation train because they got away with murder during the protests. Well, okay, thousands of murders. The fact that there was no meaningful response from the international community may be emboldening the leaders of Iran.
The other factor may be that the White House could be so keen to secure a nuclear deal, despite past deals being somewhere between useless and pretty much useless, that they're willing to let Iran dictate terms for negotiations and willing to look the other way as the regime continues to crack down on dissent internally. As we previously discussed, the U.S.
and Iran met indirectly in Oman last week, and Trump described those talks as, quote, very good. That, of course, was not a declaration of success, but a signal that sustained American pressure may be at least getting Iran to the negotiating table. However, the Iranian leadership refuted Trump's positive description of the talks, literally calling him a liar.
The reality is, once the talks got underway, negotiators quickly ran into the same roadblocks that stalled diplomacy before, Iran's unwillingness to negotiate on its missile program and its proxy networks.
The Trump administration, of course, has paired diplomacy with sustained and expanded military pressure, repeatedly warning that force remains an option if Iran refuses to reach a comprehensive deal on its red lines. But that posture has rattled regional capitals.
Gulf Arab states warned that any strike in Iran could ignite a broader conflict, with memories still fresh from the 12-day Israel-Iran war last June. But from Washington's standpoint, easing pressure without securing meaningful concessions would leave the mullahs freer to advance the regime's capabilities, and probably leave them with the belief that the U.S. doesn't really have any red lines.
Iran's messaging since the talks only reinforce how wide the gap remains. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aradji warned that if the U.S. attacks Iran, Tehran lacks the ability to strike the American homeland and would instead retaliate against U.S. military bases across the region. Crucially, Aradji has since reiterated that Iran's ballistic missile program is, quote, in no way negotiable.
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