The President's Daily Brief
March 2nd, 2026: Jets Flying Over Tehran Unchallenged & Global Leaders React
02 Mar 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's Monday, the 2nd of March. Well, welcome to a brand new month. And 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, just days into Operation Epic Fury, Israel says it controls Iran's airspace and is now operating with impunity over Iran. I'll have the latest details.
Later in the show, the world reacts to the conflict. From the United Nations to Brussels, from Moscow to Beijing, global leaders are weighing in. Plus, while the war rages on, the FBI secures the home front. Director Kash Patel orders counterterrorism teams into a heightened posture as intelligence officials watch for signs of asymmetric retaliation from the Iranian regime.
And in today's back of the brief, a mass shooting in Austin, Texas leaves three dead and over a dozen injured. We'll bring you the latest on what's known about that attack. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. We are now at day three of Operation Epic Fury, the joint US-Israeli military campaign that began early Saturday morning Tehran time.
And the scale of what has unfolded over the past 72 hours is definitely worth reviewing. According to reports, Israel and the US have struck roughly 2,000 targets across Iran since the start of the operation. The Israeli Air Force alone has flown more than 700 sorties and fired thousands of munitions. U.S.
Central Command says its forces have targeted Iranian integrated air defense systems, naval vessels and submarines, anti-ship missile sites, underground missile infrastructure, and military communications centers.
Israeli officials say dozens of command centers tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including IRGC headquarters, intelligence facilities, Air Force command hubs, and internal security structures, have been hit, along with ballistic missile arrays and aerial defense systems.
Perhaps the most consequential development so far is Israel's assertion that it has achieved aerial superiority within 24 hours of the operation's start. Now, according to reporting from the Times of Israel, Israeli fighter jets are now employing what are known as, quote, stand-in munitions over Tehran.
Bombs drop directly over their targets rather than launched from long-range standoff distances.
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Chapter 2: What is the significance of Israel controlling Iran's airspace?
In practical terms, that means Iran's ability to defend the airspace over its own capital has been severely compromised. Air defenses that once deterred direct overflight are no longer doing their job. Achieving air superiority, that quickly suggests one of two things.
Either Iran's integrated air defense network was weaker than many analysts believed, or it was systematically compromised in advance of open hostilities, likely still degraded from Israel's air campaign back in 2025. In either case, control of the skies allows Israeli and U.S.
forces to dictate tempo, choose targets with greater flexibility, and apply sustained pressure on critical infrastructure. At the same time, Iran's most potent conventional tools, ballistic missiles and armed drones, do remain in play. The Israeli military says roughly half of Iran's ballistic missile launchers have been destroyed, though, over the past 48 hours.
with hundreds of missiles dismantled and around 200 launchers either eliminated or rendered inoperable. In addition, Iran's central explosives production site, used to create material for missiles and drones, has reportedly been dismantled, and four key mixing facilities required for the manufacturing process have been struck.
Now targeting explosives and missile fuel and engine manufacturing facilities suggests the campaign is not solely focused on suppressing current salvos, but on degrading Iran's capacity to regenerate missile stockpiles over the longer term. Even so, missiles and drones do continue to rain down on Israel and on Gulf nations that host US bases.
We've already seen three American service members killed and five seriously wounded in the conflict.
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Chapter 3: How are global leaders reacting to Operation Epic Fury?
Beyond the air and missile exchanges, another front is now drawing attention, and that would be the Strait of Hormuz. That's the narrow waterway through which a significant portion of the world's oil supply transits. It's long been one of Tehran's preferred leverage points. According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, three commercial vessels were attacked in or near the Strait on Sunday.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, that's an outfit that monitors the waterway, said one ship caught fire after being struck by an unknown projectile northwest of the UAE, though the fire was extinguished. Another vessel was attacked near Oman, forcing its crew to evacuate. And earlier in the day, four sailors were wounded in an attack on a U.S.-sanctioned oil tanker.
The IRGC later claimed responsibility for the three attacks. Now, the Strait is not fully closed, but traffic has thinned, and several operators have announced that they will avoid passage there for now. Even without a formal blockade, constricted shipping lanes introduce volatility, of course, into global energy markets and increase the risk of direct naval confrontation.
Chapter 4: What measures is the FBI taking in response to the conflict?
If Iran can't contest the skies effectively, it may seek to apply pressure through maritime harassment and economic disruption. Overlaying all of this is the political realities in Tehran. With the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei now confirmed and succession plans announced, Iran's leadership has moved to project defiance and continuity.
Officials have outlined interim operating structures and a process for transition. However, the regime's senior leadership corps has been severely hit, and the question of who is actually directing Iran's military response and how centralized that command remains, well, that's not yet fully clear.
We do know that some elements of Iran's military are no longer operating under a tightly controlled centralized structure.
As we reported yesterday in the PDB special bulletin, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aradji acknowledged that many of the regime's missile units are acting on previously issued general instructions and striking predetermined targets rather than receiving real-time direction from a unified command.
The questions that loom over this conflict, though, even at this early stage, include just how resilient is the current regime and how will the Iranian people respond? Will they view the death of Khamenei and the numerous senior leaders as their opportunity to rise up and successfully remove the repressive government of the mullahs and the IRGC?
Or will the dust settle and the Iranian population simply find that the regime's deck chairs have been reshuffled and the clerics and IRGC still remain in control? All right. Coming up next, global leaders react to Operation Epic Fury, while back in the U.S., the FBI moves counterterrorism teams to high alert amid concerns of asymmetric retaliation. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here.
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Chapter 5: What details are emerging about the mass shooting in Austin?
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Chapter 6: How has Operation Epic Fury unfolded over the past days?
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Welcome back to the PDB. We've been tracking Operation Epic Fury itself, but now I want to turn to the international response to the conflict as governments react cautiously, unevenly, and in some cases, very predictably. The reactions are telling.
While many capitals urge calm, the deeper divide centers on how to deal with a regime in crisis that has long pushed the limits of international tolerance. For some leaders, the greater risk here is escalation. But for others, the deeper concern has been what would have happened if Tehran's nuclear program continued advancing unchecked. So let's start with the U.N.
Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned what he described as the, quote, use of force by the United States and Israel, as well as Iran's retaliation. He warned that the confrontation risks undermining international peace and security, really, and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. Well, at least the UN is always consistent in its fecklessness.
It's worth noting that the Security Council convened an emergency session over the weekend, which remains ongoing at this time. You know what's also worth noting? is that when talking about just how milquetoast the UN is, Russia, despite its four-year invasion of Ukraine, remains a permanent member of that UN Security Council.
That posture is consistent with the UN's institutional reflex, prioritized restraint, the emphasis of international law, and the tendency to draw moral equivalency between players, whether involving the Iranian regime or Hamas or even Venezuela as recent examples.
But what's largely absent from that framing is sustained focus on the underlying issue that Washington says drove the strikes, Iran's accelerating nuclear ambitions and reluctance to make a nuclear deal. And, of course, the U.N. 's inability to fully monitor any past or potential future deals. Now, I want to shift to Brussels.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the developments of Operation Epic Fury, quote, greatly concerning. There's taking a stand. Stressing nuclear safety and the importance of preventing further escalation that would weaken the global nonproliferation order. And that statement all by itself is impressive in its use of words without saying anything meaningful.
Among the major Western governments, the language becomes more calibrated, if that's even possible. France, Germany, and the UK, otherwise known as the E3, reiterated that they've long pressed Iran to end its nuclear program, halt destabilizing regional activity, and stop what they described as appalling repression against its own people.
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Chapter 7: What does achieving air superiority mean for Israel and Iran?
Beijing later called for an immediate halt to U.S. military operations. Now, as I mentioned, neither statement is surprising. Both Moscow and Beijing maintain deep ties with the Iranian regime and consistently oppose Western pressure aimed at curbing the mullahs' nuclear program. Of course, both nations were silent over the Iranian regime's murdering of thousands of their own citizens.
Apparently, both Putin and Xi Jinping felt a certain kinship with the brutal suppression of dissent and opposition. And then you look at the Middle East itself, where the stakes are most immediate. Oman's foreign minister, who, as our regular PDB listeners know, has been mediating nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran, said he was, quote, dismayed by the attacks.
He warned that the further escalation would not serve American interests and cautioned Washington that, quote, this is not your war. Well, of course, someone should remind the foreign minister of Oman of the thousands of U.S. personnel killed and wounded over the years by Iranian-supported factions and IEDs.
Lebanon's prime minister described the moment as involving, quote, dangerous developments and stressed that his country would not allow itself to be dragged into a conflict that threatens its security. But taken together, the reactions reveal a fractured international response. It's a mixed bag of reactions, some cautious, some critical, and some supportive.
Okay, now I want to shift focus to the U.S., where the ripple effects of American military action against Iran are already being felt inside the homeland security apparatus, with the FBI shifting its counterterrorism teams into a heightened defensive posture. Now, it's important to understand what the preparation actually looks like on the ground.
FBI Director Kash Patel said that he instructed the Bureau to place its intelligence divisions on high alert and mobilize additional security assets as needed. He added that nationwide joint terrorism task forces are operating around the clock to detect and disrupt any potential threats to the country. In other words, while the Pentagon is focused on protecting U.S.
personnel overseas, the FBI, of course, is focused on the home front. Director Patel emphasized that the Bureau remains responsible for deterring attacks and will continue working 24-7 to protect Americans. So you may be asking, what does high alert actually mean in practice? Well, according to a law enforcement source who spoke with Fox News,
It typically involves increasing surveillance of priority suspects, heightened use of confidential sources, and reviewing technical intelligence collection streams for early warning indicators. What that means is that this is about leaning forward, essentially identifying risks before they materialize.
The move follows ongoing American strikes on Iranian targets as tensions escalate, of course, across the Middle East. Inside the intelligence community, there is a longstanding understanding that Tehran rarely responds to the U.S. military pressure through direct confrontation. Instead, the regime is typically turned to its proxy networks and to asymmetric tactics.
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