May 22nd, 2025: Leaked Intel: Israel Poised To Strike Iran’s Nuclear Sites & Ukrainian Official Assassinated
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What new intelligence suggests Israel is preparing to strike Iran?
It's Thursday, the 22nd of May. 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. We'll kick things off with revealing new intelligence. U.S. officials believe that Israel is preparing to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, setting the stage for possible conflict, even as Washington pursues a diplomatic path with the mullahs. Later in the show, a shocking look at cartel brutality south of the US border. Officials have uncovered another suspected death camp in rural Mexico, this time a 40-acre ranch where victims were allegedly tortured, murdered, and incinerated. Plus, a murder mystery in Spain. A former top Ukrainian official with deep ties to the pro-Russian regime is gunned down outside an American school in Madrid, Spain.
What happened to the former Ukrainian official in Spain?
And in today's back of the brief, Canada is considering joining President Trump's ambitious new missile defense program, dubbed the Golden Dome. We'll take a look at why Canada wants in and what it means for North American security. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. We'll begin today with reports that Israel may make good on their threat to go it alone against Iran if the Trump administration attempts to pursue a new nuclear deal that Jerusalem views as too weak. Newly intercepted intelligence shared exclusively with CNN by multiple U.S. officials suggests Israel was already making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, a move that could kick off a fresh conflict in the Middle East and would represent a serious break with President Trump, who's still hoping to find a diplomatic solution to Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
What is the significance of Canada's potential role in missile defense?
Of course, well, not to put too fine a point on it, but the Iranian regime doesn't represent an existential threat to the U.S. It does, however, represent an existential threat to Israel. So, Israel and the U.S. naturally view Iran from different perspectives, which, of course, earns me the PDB statement of the obvious award for the day. The officials stressed that it remains unclear if Israeli leaders have made a final decision on whether or not to attack, but said the likelihood, quote, has gone up significantly in recent months, particularly as Jerusalem grows increasingly frustrated with the Trump administration's approach to Middle East diplomacy.
What preparations is Israel making regarding Iran's nuclear facilities?
They point to recently intercepted Israeli communications along with observations of Israeli military movements that suggest that a strike could be imminent. According to sources familiar with the intelligence, the Israeli military has been quietly redeploying munitions and other assets to strategic locations and just recently completed a round of air exercises that may have simulated possible strikes against Iranian nuclear sites. Some U.S. officials said the moves may simply be geared at sending a message to Iran of the consequences that they'll face if they don't abandon their uranium enrichment program. But others, well, are concerned that the activity means Israel may choose to act unilaterally.
They note that Israeli officials have routinely expressed their desire in private to take out Iran's nuclear capacity, fearing the mullahs are attempting to use diplomacy as a distraction as they increase the enrichment efforts. In April, the UN's nuclear watchdog warned that Iran now possesses roughly 605 pounds of uranium enriched up to 60%, which they could theoretically convert into weapons-grade material within one to two weeks. Leaders in Israel also reportedly see Iran's nuclear sites as uniquely vulnerable due to the collapse of their once-strong proxy network over the past year. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz bluntly warned the mullahs earlier this month that if they continue to wage a proxy war on the Jewish state, they'll meet the same fate as their other regional allies like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the now-deposed Assad regime. He added that Israel was prepared to act alone.
The sources said Israel's decision will ultimately come down to what kind of nuclear deal ends up materializing, if any. One person familiar with U.S. intelligence told CNN, "...the prospect of a Trump-negotiated U.S.-Iran deal that doesn't remove all of Iran's uranium makes the chance of a strike more likely."
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What new intelligence suggests Israel is preparing to strike Iran?
0:12–1:08
2
What gruesome discovery was made in Mexico?
1:08
3
What happened to the former Ukrainian official in Spain?
1:08–2:01
4
What is the significance of Canada's potential role in missile defense?
2:01–2:42
5
What preparations is Israel making regarding Iran's nuclear facilities?
2:42–12:04
6
What challenges does Israel face in potentially striking Iran?
12:04–19:59
7
How do cartel operations in Mexico showcase the violence in the drug war?
19:59–24:04
8
What alliances are emerging among Mexican cartels?
24:04–24:24
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The President's Daily Brief
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